Timelined a few hours after The Calm Before
<Jessica> It was late when Jess woke... or early. There was the barest hint of dawn beyond the curtains but the bed beside her was still empty and cold. She frowned, sitting up and pushing a hand through her hair while she listened to the sounds of the house. There was movement in the lab and soft voices, Hope's and Sebastian's. Mystery solved, she reached for a robe and pulled it on to go and check on Miriam.
<Shinobi> Shinobi woke to the call of nature, or more precisely, two calls, since he heard the wind pick up outside when he shuffled from the bathroom – leaving that light on because it was damn dark – and paused in the middle of the room to listen. It was impossible to tell time or the weather in the almost windowless basement, but he could hear the bare branches of the trees outside scraping against the building just above him.
<Jessica> Satisfied that Miriam was happy and would sleep for a little longer, Jess slipped quietly downstairs. Ignoring the weather as well as she could, she listened for the other occupants of the house. Widget and Sharky were wherever they went all night and silent but there was movement in the basement. She headed for the stairs and knocked lightly on the door at the bottom, "Shinobi...?"
<Shinobi> "Yeah?" He'd heard the footsteps, surprised when they came all the way to his door. Jessica's voice was not what he'd expected. Running a hand through his hair, he opened the door and saw her outline in the dim light. "What time is it? Everything okay?"
<Jessica> "I don't know what time it is... dawn-ish." She offered him a smile, "Everything's fine... I just heard you were up so I wanted to check you were okay..."
<Shinobi> He nodded, blearily, and raked his hand through his hair again. It made it worse. "Just... I guess the wind woke me up." On cue, the whistling sound rose in pitch.
<Jessica> Jess nodded, "Yeah... think it woke me up too." She hugged herself in response to the sound of the wind, "Not great with bad weather."
<Shinobi> "Is it snowing or something?" He realized the draft from upstairs was making his room cold, and he hid a shiver, shifting his weight uncertainly and blinking at her.
<Jessica> "I think so..." she glanced back up the stairs before moving into the basement properly and closing the door to block the draught. "There was talk of a blizzard on the news yesterday..."
<Shinobi> "A blizzard? Great." Puzzled, he backed away from her a little. "Can you... pick a better time to yell at me?"
<Jessica> "I'm not here to yell at you..." she sighed, pushing a hand through her hair, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday..."
<Shinobi> "I've slept off most of my headache at least," he said carefully.
<Jessica> "Good... but that wasn't what I meant." She went over to the small kitchen area and sat down on a stool, vaguely wondering if he actually used the kitchen area now that peanut butter was no longer an option. "I was referring to all that stuff with Sebastian..."
<Shinobi> "Oh. I'm... kind of used to it." He frowned and shuffled back to the bed to sit down, wondering if he should find a shirt.
<Jessica> "I tried to get him to stay down in the nursery and leave you two alone... I suppose I should have tried harder...." she chewed her lip.
<Shinobi> "You did?" Shinobi looked up mid-yawn to study her. "Why?"
<Jessica> "Because I thought you both needed some time to work everything out on your own... I'm sort of in a place to know exactly how you two are feeling right now so... I know when to leave it alone. Sebastian doesn't like to be told he's wrong..."
<Shinobi> "How so? You don't really want to see us together either." He debated getting up to pace, but it was cold so he settled for a defiant stare. "We are now, by the way. Just to be clear."
<Jessica> "I never said that... I said I didn't want to see either of you hurt. It's not up to me whether you and Hope end up together or not. That's up to you. You're both capable of making your own decisions - something I keep reminding Sebastian of."
<Shinobi> Upstairs, the wind rattled a window and he looked away.
<Jessica> "You don't believe me?" She cocked her head on one side, studying his posture, "When have I ever given you cause to think I don't always have your best interests at heart?"
<Shinobi> "It's not that." Shinobi frowned to himself, forcing himself to look back at Jess. "It's easier to stay pissed off."
<Jessica> She laughed softly, shaking her head, "It isn't... being angry is exhausting... less painful maybe, in some cases... but still exhausting... are you angry with me?"
<Shinobi> "No, but my father knows exactly how to press my buttons." He cleared his throat, shifting his weight. "I could have hurt him. I didn't. I... don't want him to be right about me."
<Jessica> "He's not right about you," Jess assured him, "Except for when he's actually being sensible and agrees you've come a long way since you got here."
<Shinobi> "Not quite far enough," he said with a bitter chuckle.
<Jessica> "For some things... no one will ever be good enough. That's not a reflection on you, Shinobi, I promise."
<Shinobi> "She told him no." Shinobi smiled to himself, rubbing a hand over his mouth to smother the expression. "When he tried to tell her we couldn't..."
<Jessica> "Well of course she did," Jess laughed, "No one tells Hope what to do."
<Shinobi> "It's just... different. She was... so upset, when she got home and-" he cut himself off, remembering Yukio again and that she was Jessica's friend.
<Jessica> "I know..." Jess pulled a face, glancing in the direction of Yukio's building, "When the weather clears I'll be having words with someone."
<Shinobi> "Better you than Hope, because I don't think Yukio would fare well in that confrontation." Shinobi smoothed the fabric of his pajama pants and finally gave in to drag the blanket over his shoulders. "There's another blanket... although you would know that, since it's yours. If you're cold."
<Jessica> "I'm alright, actually... not long ago I'd have long since put a coat on but now it's not a problem... I used to have real trouble in the cold." She offered him a small smile, "I'm not sure Yukio will fare well if I go over there either."
<Shinobi> He laughed a little. "I tried to tell her to back off."
<Jessica> "Yeeeeeah, apparently she doesn't take hints very well... or explicit instructions. I told her to leave you alone...."
<Shinobi> "The thing is... if Hope hadn't come back when she did..." He picked at the blanket, unwilling to look at her. "I was really wasted, and I thought I was just wishing for things that would never happen with Hope, so I could have let her have what she wanted. Easily."
<Jessica> "And I suspect she knew that... so I'm doubly annoyed with her for trying to take advantage of you when you were vulnerable." And she was still mad at Sebastian for putting the idea in Yukio's head in the first place. "I'm sorry..."
<Shinobi> "It doesn't matter now, and I'm almost grateful, because now I know..." It was still something he was processing.
<Jessica> "That Hope cares for you? Shinobi... I could have told you that." And she was sure she had, multiple times.
<Shinobi> He nodded. Now, he was sure.
<Jessica> Jess got up and went over to him, sitting down beside him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "In case you're in any doubt, I care for you too... just not the same way because that would be weird... and I'm married."
<Shinobi> "Thanks." He smirked a bit. "It would be very weird."
<Jessica> She smiled and leaned to press a kiss to his cheek. "I suppose I should let you get back to sleep... or make you something hot for breakfast and turn the heating up?"
<Shinobi> "I probably should just get up. It is cold down here... and still dark." It must have been very gloomy outside for no light at all to have filtered through the almost non-existent windows near the top of the ceiling.
<Jessica> "I think the snow is blocking the light..." Jess wrinkled her nose, releasing him and getting to her feet, "Breakfast it is then."
<Shinobi> "And hopefully my father isn't awake yet." He got up as well and started the search for a shirt, turning on a light.
<Jessica> "He hasn't even been to bed yet. He's working so he'll be distracted for a while," Jess blinked in the light, raising a hand to block the worst of it from her eyes until they adjusted.
<Shinobi> Making a face, he located a tee and yanked it on. "Good. Wonder if Hope would want breakfast?"
<Jessica> "I could ask but that would probably result in Sebastian joining us too... she's in the lab with him. God only knows what they're up to in there but they're probably drinking."
<Shinobi> That revelation resulted in another frown. "Okay, I guess it's just you and me." Picking up his phone, he finally looked at the time. I guess I'll have to wait a few hours to call Omaha anyway."
<Jessica> "Yeah... assuming we still have service when it's awake o'clock." Jess resecured her robe around herself before she went to the door to the stairs.
<Shinobi> "Surely it's not that bad," he said, taking another swipe at his hair and pocketed his phone before he followed her.
<Jessica> Jess shrugged, "Anything could happen if the power goes out." She headed up the stairs, "Why are you phoning all that way anyway? Google no good?"
<Shinobi> "They won't accept emailed transcript requests. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, considering it's Omaha." He stopped at one of the windows and stared outside.
<Jessica> She laughed, "They might prefer mail, nice and old fashioned." She paused when she realised he wan't following her, "I guess they were right about blizzard...."
<Shinobi> "Yeah, but I have to call to request the form for them to mail out... nice and old fashioned and complicated." He shook himself and looked over at her. "I guess so. That's... a lot of snow." Outside the storm prevented them from even seeing completely across the street and there was no traffic on the street.
<Jessica> "Yeah... I'll put the news on so we can see what they're saying about it when we get upstairs... I should look in on Miriam again on the way up too, she's usually awake by now..."
<Shinobi> "Go ahead and check on her, I'll turn on the TV." He pulled himself away from the window to start back up the stairs.
<Jessica> "Okay, I'll meet you in the kitchen..." They continued up the stairs together until the landing with the master bedroom and nursery where Shinobi continued up the next flight without her to the kitchen.