***Trigger warning for mentions of suicide.***

Start the song. It's Good Feeling by Haley Blais.

Tyler hummed the same song he'd sung in the shower as he drove home. He'd picked up flowers for Jenna seeing as he was about thirty minutes late after the road he usually drove to get home was closed due to snow. He didn't know anything about flowers, but they were pink and orange and fluffy, so she'd probably like them. Besides, she always liked having fresh flowers around the house. She used to keep scissors in her purse so she could "borrow" flowers from parks and neighbours' yards.

He was still humming to himself as he climbed up the front steps of their house, doing his best to kick the snow off his shoes atop the doormat before stepping inside. The warmth of their home washed over him, nearly making him shiver with relief. He kicked his shoes off by the door and hung his coat up in the mud room before heading inside.

The Food Network was playing in the kitchen, and Tyler could see Jenna sitting cross-legged on the island, facing away from him as she drank a mug of hot cocoa. She was wearing lingerie, which probably meant she'd intended to surprise him thirty minutes ago before realizing he was probably going to be late, like always.

Tyler did his best to hide the flowers behind his back as he set his briefcase down on the kitchen table. He knew better than to try to surprise her when she was home alone in her underwear and holding a hot drink, so he quietly said, "So bad news, the road I usually take to leave the office was closed."

Jenna whipped around to look at him so quickly that she almost dropped her mug, a wide smile tugging at her cheeks. She practically slammed her mug of cocoa down onto the counter as she scurried off of the island and ran to him.

Before Jenna could hug him, he held the flowers in front of himself and said, "But the good news is that the detour was next to a flower shop."

Jenna squealed, taking the flowers from him before jumping on him. He laughed as he caught her, letting her wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders.

"You were almost on time!" She cooed proudly, nuzzling her warm nose against his chilled one. "Guess what your prize is?"

"I get a prize for almost accomplishing something?" He asked with a laugh.

His fiancé giggled. "Yes! You get a prize!"

"And what's that?" Tyler asked amusedly.

"Well, if you had been on time, I would let you unwrap your prize before you get to play with it," she told him, one hand leaving his neck to pull the strap of her bra up when it slipped down on her shoulder. She giggled when Tyler pouted. "But your alternative prize is pretty good too."

"And what's that?" He asked again, this time a bit hopefully.

Jenna giggled. "Well, since your skin is so cold and needs to be warmed up, I'll let you take a bath with me, and then we can watch Christmas movies on the couch in our pajamas."

"It's January, babe," Tyler reminded her, smiling slightly.

The woman in his arms huffed. "Okay, so...we can watch The Gremlins. It's sorta Christmas and sorta your thing. Deal?"

Tyler laughed as he carried Jenna down the hall. "Perfect. See? We're already learning to compromise. We're totally ready for marriage."

"Totally," Jenna agreed. "I want to make chilli and cornbread for dinner, by the way. I can't believe I let you go outside in that weather, but I promise I'll do everything in my power to warm you up again."

"Wasn't that the first prize?" Tyler joked as he set Jenna down on the counter beside their bathroom sink.

Jenna giggled, watching him start the bath before taking off his tie. "Hmmm. Maybe I'm going to be one of those wives who treats her husband like a king."

Tyler grinned. "Well, I was planning on treating you like a queen, so I think this is going to work out for both of us."

His fiancé beamed, pulling him closer by his belt loops before setting about unbuttoning his shirt. "How was work?"

"Good. Stressful," he replied as he unbuttoned his slacks. "Did you go see your sister today?"

"Yeah! Speaking of which, don't let me forget that I promised to mail out Mercy's birthday invitations tomorrow. I'd be the worst aunt in the world if I was the reason no one came to her birthday party. Oh! And I'm making the cake. She says she wants it to be pink," Jenna told him excitedly, and he couldn't help but match her excitement when he knew that this was something that was important to her.

"Okay. Don't let me forgot to not let you forget," Tyler replied, making Jenna laugh. "God, wasn't she born a week ago?"

"She's turning five! How insane is that?" Jenna exclaimed as she helped Tyler out of his shirt before slipping out of the silky teddy she was wearing while he kicked his slacks off.

"She is not. That's a lie," Tyler argued, smiling slightly when Jenna giggled.

"She's really turning five! Do you realize what that means?" Jenna continued.

Tyler couldn't help but smile. "That I've known you for six years, been your boyfriend for two, and been your fiancé for almost six months?" He suggested, his smile widening when she nodded enthusiastically.

"Exactly! Plus, we're old." That seemed to concern Jenna slightly, but it made Tyler laugh.

He scooped her up off of the counter and set her down in the bathtub. She hummed approvingly at the temperature of the water, peering at him over the lip of the claw foot tub with just as much approval as he slipped off his briefs before climbing in with her.

"You're not old, Jenna. You're twenty-one," he reassured her, only succeeding in making her more determined to convince him of their old age.

"Yeah, but you're twenty-five. You're pretty much thirty, which is pretty much fifty, which means your life as half over. We have to get married ASAP before you get too old to carry me around," she insisted.

Tyler laughed as he gathered her up into his lap, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead before guiding her to lie with her head on his shoulder. "I promise you that I'm not turning fifty for quite a while."

Jenna instinctually cuddled closer to him, nudged her nose against his jaw. "You're still really old, but I promise I'll still love you anyway," she informed him in a tender tone, making him laugh again.

"Thanks, kiddo. I love you too," Tyler replied, beaming brightly when Jenna laughed.

"You're so cute, and I love you so much, but please never call me 'kiddo' again," she requested through a grin.

"I make no promises," Tyler replied simply, biting back a laugh when the response made Jenna snort. "Hey, I love you so much. Did you know that?"

Jenna hummed happily. "I did. Did you know that I love you too?"

"I did," Tyler replied easily. "You know what else I love? I love knowing that I get to hear you laugh until you snort for the rest of my life."

Jenna whined. "I don't snort!"

"You literally just snorted," Tyler pointed out.

"No! I never do that. I'm so cute and lovable and flawless. I could never," she insisted.

"Everything you just said is true expect for when you said that you never snort," Tyler informed her.

"If you tell me right here and now that I've never snorted, I'll make peanut butter cookies tonight," Jenna proposed.

Immediately, Tyler replied, "That was me who snorted earlier. Jenna's perfect. She never snorts."

Jenna smiled proudly. "How very right you are," she agreed cordially.

Their laughter didn't cease, even when they spread blankets out on the couch and snuggled up in their pajamas. Tyler didn't even turn the television on until Jenna had decided exactly how she wanted to lie on top of him. She always did this when they watched movies. She curled up like a cat with her head either on his chest or tucked away against his neck, hiding during scary parts and asking too many questions during the actual movie. Tyler didn't mind though. It was nice to be this close to her and to hear her voice whenever possible.

This time, Jenna settled with the top of her head just under Tyler's chin, her body pressed against his side with her limbs spilling over his stomach and tangling with his legs. It was unbelievably comfortable.

"You smell good," Tyler told Jenna as he turned on the television.

"You smell yummy," she replied, making him smile slightly.

His smile disappeared when he saw the television, and he hushed Jenna a bit too suddenly as he stared at the television and turned it up. A newscaster in a suit was talking from behind a large desk, looking very serious. He spoke in something of a warning tone, his eyes looking just past the camera at the teleprompter beside it.

"As we draw nearer to the end of January, we rapidly approach the anniversary of the Birchwood Fire. Eight years ago tomorrow, a family of six lost their lives to an act of arson committed by a thirteen year old boy. The Bradley family had recently been evicted from their home, and took shelter in an abandoned house on Birchwood Street. This decision proved fatal, and they all burned to death inside it when a middle school student by the name of Joshua Dun set fire to the building," the newscaster said solemnly, making Tyler's stomach twist when a mugshot of a little boy with curly hair and brown eyes like Abbie's showed up on the screen.

Joshua's eyes were swollen from crying in the picture, and he wasn't looking directly at the camera. His eyes went just barely off to the side, something desperate in them like he was silently pleading for someone to protect him in that moment. Guilt was written all across the little boy's face, scattered across his exterior like the salt and pepper freckles that clung to his cheeks like they clung to Abbie's. His hair was messy, clearly having been ruffled and pulled at by shaky hands and January wind. Black tunnels filled the holes in his earlobes, which were practically shrouded away by dark brown curls so very much like Jordan's.

"I went to school with him," Jenna said quietly, not questioning her fiancé's decision to postpone their movie as he listened to the newscaster wax poetic about how this little boy had maliciously robbed six people of their lives. "He never talked. Whenever teachers called on him, he'd clam up and start shaking and run out of the room. It was weird."

"It sounds like anxiety," Tyler replied distractedly. "Severe anxiety. Anxiety no one was teaching him to cope with."

"Ty, you're diagnosing people on TV again," Jenna informed him gently, smiling amusedly. Tyler couldn't think to be amused. He wasn't listening to her.

"Protests and petitions are rising all across Ohio to challenge the judge's decision to reassess Dun's case when he turns twenty-one in June," the newscaster continued, botox injections preventing him from showing any emotion regarding this statement. "At the time of his sentencing, the community seemed to be divided into two groups: those who thought Dun should be tried as minor, and those who thought Judge Kalama was too lenient for allowing Dun a chance to rejoin society after only eight years behind bars."

Jenna yawned, but Tyler couldn't stop staring at the picture of the scared little boy in front of him.

"Even Dun has reportedly shown reluctance toward rejoin society. According to an undisclosed informant, Dun is currently being held on suicide watch in the Franklin County Correctional Center. The same source informed us that Joshua spent a cumulative total of two months on suicide watch last year, and has been kept in solitary confinement for several years for his own safety," the elastic-faced newscaster continued.

"They can't say that. Why would they even know that? They can't just tell the whole world that," Tyler insisted irritably, glaring at the man on the screen.

His fiancé shrugged. "I've heard them say worse things about him. People really hate Josh after what he did."

"Many found this interesting since it was Dun himself who decided to plead guilty, despite the counsel of his lawyer in his initial hearing. His lawyer, Mr. Herman Finch, went on the record after the trial to inform the public that he had told Dun to plead not guilty, and presented Dun with a plan to have him put into a mental health facility for a short period of time instead of behind bars. However, when Dun was asked to plead his case, he told the judge and jury that he was guilty on all counts. When Judge Kalama asked him why he was choosing to plead guilty, he told the court, and I quote, 'Six people are dead because of me. It wouldn't be fair for me to go back to living my life when I took theirs away.'"

Tyler's chest ached, and he couldn't stop staring at the fear on that little boy's face as he stood in front of a camera for his mug shot to be taken when he probably had school the next morning. This was the boy Abbie remembered. She remember the Josh who had demanded to be given consequences for his actions, who was visibly drowning in guilt long before the judge wanted him to be able to admit whether he had any or not. Jordan remembered the prisoner, but Abbie remembered the little boy.

"The Dun family has declined to comment at this time, including Dun's younger brother, who testified against him in court at the age of seven. The younger brother, whose name was not released to the public in court documents due to his age, shared a bedroom with Joshua at the time of the fire. He testified to seeing his brother climb through their bedroom window with a matchbox, and stop at the garage to obtain a gallon of gasoline before leaving the house that night. Whether or not his family is hoping for him to be released on probation in June is unknown, seeing as they have refused to talk to the media about him for the past eight years, and reportedly only visit the prison on rare occasions."

"There is no way they can legally broadcast all of this information. How did they even learn that?" Tyler demanded angrily. "And who the hell decided they could say all of this on TV while he's on suicide watch? How the fuck is that supposed to help him get better?"

There was hesitation in Jenna's voice as she admitted, "They might not want him to get better Ty."

"That's fucked up. That's beyond fucked up," Tyler fumed. "They can't just fucking-He was a little boy when he started the fire, Jenna. Look at him. Look at that mugshot. He was terrified. He had no fucking clue that he was going to hurt someone. He wasn't starting fires because he wanted to hurt someone. It was a coping mechanism. No one wakes up one day and decides to become an arsonist, Jen. He was sick, and no one was helping him get better, so he did what he could to cope."

His fiancé seemed shocked. "Ty, why are you talking like you know him? Are you doing therapy at the prison or something? Are you treating him? Are you treating someone who knew him?"

"I can't tell you that, Jenna. You know I can't. I'm not working at the prison, but even if I was, I can't tell you who I treat or why. You know that," Tyler replied, his blood still boiling as he heard the newscaster continue.

"Many are still calling for the death penalty to be put on the table when Dun's case is reassessed in June. Whether or not the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment would protect him from this is up for debate, however. It is most likely that the trial will simply decide if he will serve out the rest of his life sentence, or go home on probation. Many members of the community are worried for their safety in the event that he is released, but it is important to remember that Dun would likely be out on house arrest or otherwise be carefully monitored if released," the newscaster reported. "And now back to Amelia with the weather!"

Jenna seemed worried as Tyler climbed out from under her and off of the couch before moving to leave the room. "I'm sorry. I'm going to bed," he told her, unable to focus on anything but the sickness twisting in his gut.

Seeing Josh's mental illness being fed to the media for shock factor and to incite more fear of him made Tyler want to throw up. They'd erased the humanity in him. They'd already decided that he was too dangerous to be out on the streets again, and that wasn't fair. The person in that mugshot was a lonely, terrified little boy. He needed help and love and compassion and understanding, not to have his whole life thrown onto a screen and picked apart for all the world to see.

Tyler climbed under the covers of their bed, grateful that Jenna didn't follow him. He pulled the covers up over his head, wishing he knew what to do to help Josh come home this summer instead of rotting away for a crime he'd already destroyed himself with guilt from. Instead, his exhausted body pulled him down to sleep, trapping inside of dream after dream of trying and failing to help the little boy in that mugshot.

When Tyler woke up in the morning, Jenna was fast asleep beside him, but he didn't try to wake her and ask if he was doing something stupid as he found some lined paper and wrote a letter to the little boy in the mugshot. He drove all the way to the post office, set up a P.O. Box, and sent the letter to the Franklin County Correctional Center as soon as the clock struck eight in the morning. He was back in bed with Jenna before he could even begin to realize how impulsive and irresponsible his actions were. Maybe that was okay though because no matter how impulsive and irresponsible mailing that letter was, he didn't regret it at all. He was doing the right thing, and for some reason, he was certain of that.