After she stopped hyperventilating, Stephanie repeatedly tried to open her mouth and talk on the way back. Rebecca was pretty sure the first attempt started with the traditional "Ohmygodyoukilledhim—"

... but she cut that off with a dismissive "Nope."

"What do you mean, 'nope'? You just shot—

"Nope. I truly don't care about anything you say. Shut your trap and pick up the guns, by the barrels. If you're all mad at me and want to shoot me, cool. Touch the handgrips, give me an excuse."

"What the hell are you —"

"Hands. Barrels. Feet, with the walking." Rebecca just stared at Stephanie with a bored head tilt in response to the traditional imposed-upon-teenager groan.

The wait was long enough Rebecca saw the headlights of the SUV Patrick and Dylan took to collect Sam and Jack start moving off to her left, and she let out a small sigh of relief. They'd put Jack in the back with his mom, but Sam had adamantly refused to leave her position until Rebecca was heading back to the barn.

Eventually, Stephanie did as she was told, though the process included a brief freakout when she bumped against one of the bodies. Alas, a mere few blissful minutes of silent walking later — enough for Rebecca to get distracted by how desperately she wanted a drink or two followed by A Drink — more petulance interrupted the fleeting peace she was enjoying.

"I can explain—"

"Unless the rest of that sentence is 'how to find the buried treasure behind the barn', nothing that comes out of your mouth is going to matter to me."

"Why—"

"Child, you are damaging my already fragile calm. There's tape in my medkit, I will literally pin you down and muzzle you with it if you don't shut up." With the light amplification, Rebecca could clearly see the over-the-shoulder surly pout Stephanie shot her way. "Oh please. I've received better stink-eye from my dog."

"You're such a bitch. You and your girlfriend deserve each other."

"Wow, thanks!" Rebecca dialed up her mocking tone as much as her raw throat could manage. "That's really sweet of you to say!"

"Ugh!" Stephanie stomped off in what Rebecca would definitely describe as "a huff". Whatever, it was in the right general direction.

Outfoxing the little minx left a satisfied grin on her face, and another period of pleasant quiet gave her time to think while trying to ignore how heavy her limbs felt.

Hmm. Rebecca stared at Stephanie's back contemplatively — just how much of a game was this brat playing?

"My threat about the tape still stands, so do not speak in reply to this. But, you'd better hope to whatever god listens to your venomous little soul that I never find reason to believe you were involved in any of the recent incidents."

She paused for a few winded breaths before continuing. "I'm even starting to wonder if you were standing up that night on purpose, trying to get the drop on my girl. That is not a line of thought you want me to follow to its very ugly conclusion. So, when we get back, you're going to run off to daddy, and I am not going to see you again before we leave."

Stephanie simply growled in reply.

"Great, I'm glad we understand each other."

**

A small crowd — including Sam — was waiting for her at the fence rail when they arrived.

Stephanie gave Rebecca one last dirty look, and she responded by gesturing at the fence with a forward shrug of her Tavor, then again up the hill. Rebecca's mood began improving dramatically as soon as Stephanie had set down the rifles and flounced off.

She could have watched to see where Stephanie went if she left the night vision on, but Rebecca truly didn't care beyond hoping she might literally get lost. Instead, she gladly flipped the goggles up and removed her helmet, handing it to Sam who had already doffed hers.

Sam immediately passed her a steel water bottle in exchange.

"Oh, thank you, you're a goddess." Rebecca spun the top off and knocked back several gulps before coming up for air with a relieved gasp. "That's so much better."

"Then you'll love this, I sure did." Sam held out a small washcloth, and Rebecca noticed her face and the edges of her hair were freshly wet.

Rebecca took another swig of water as she reached for it. "That little snot was wrong, we don't deserve each other, you're too good for me."

Sam smiled and waited for Rebecca to flood the rag, then held the bottle so she could scrub her face clean. "Oh? She said we deserved each other? How sweet."

"Mmm." Rebecca glanced up at Sam through now-loose hair as she ran the towel over the back of her neck. "That's what I said too."

"You must have really pissed her off."

"I might have shot her boytoy." Rebecca explained about the exchange at the intersection, but skipped her budding suspicions — she didn't want to give Sam even more reason to toss caution to the wind and go tan the kid's hide. Though someone oughta.

Dylan had arrived and overheard the later part of the story, horrified. Rebecca finished her retelling by glancing at her and saying, "Be careful. I think you've got a little viper in your midst."

Dylan shook her head in dismay. "Unbelievable. Well, no. I can almost empathize, if she wrapped one of them around her finger, I see how it would make her life easier. Anyway. Thank you both so much for saving Jack, again. I don't know what we'd have done without you."

Sam chuckled, taking another drink of water before grinning at Rebecca. "I think this round of gratitude's for you, she thanked me plenty of times on the ride back."

"Hah, no." Dylan poked Sam lightly in the arm. "I was pretty incomprehensible then, I'm sure — what with all the sobbing and all. May I?" She held out her arms, and Rebecca nodded while Sam reached out with her left arm.

While Dylan was hugging them both, Rebecca took the opportunity to touch her forehead to Sam's and sigh with relief. When Dylan let go and retreated to the barn with another smile and round of thanks, Sam left her hand around Rebecca's waist, and Rebecca gently circled hers on Sam's hip since they both still had their armor on.

Sam turned her head slightly towards Rebecca. "Y'okay sugar?"

"Ugh, yeah. Fucking tired. Thank you for the cover out there."

"Of course. Gotta say I'm glad we had some time between dinner and the two foot chases, I'd probably be retching in a ditch right now otherwise."

"Nngh. Thanks for the pleasant thought. Can we go sit now? My feet are pleading for freedom."

Sam smiled and they started walking, happy to let Epstein boss around a local about what to do with the reclaimed guns. "Again I say, of course. Just keep them away from the head end of my bunk, okay?"

"Hey! Yours are going to be closer to both of our heads than mine, shortie!"

They bantered a little more as they walked to the barn, waving at Patrick and Christine on the way. Rebecca was divinely grateful to sit and remove her boots, wiping her feet dry with the ankles of the socks she had been wearing, and changing to a fresh set inside another pair of shoes, untied and loosely laced with the ends tucked in. Getting her armor off and peeling her shirt away from her skin to flap it loosely was another immense relief. She'd definitely have to change before passing out for the night.

She was still cooling off sitting at the table with Sam, recounting the evening's chases to Chrissie, when someone bumped into her from behind, pretty hard. Both of her hands leapt off the table and her heart pounded, even as she realized it was Jack tackling her from behind and thanking her for saving him. It took a second before she got her shock under control and patted one of the hands he had wrapped around her shoulders.

"You're welcome, big guy. You did good leaving us a trail."

"Jack!" Dylan waved imperiously at him from nearby. "Leave your brave heroines alone to relax and get your butt ready for bed!"

"Okaaaaay, mom!" Jack squeezed Rebecca again, paused to give Sam similar treatment, then ran off with the same exuberance.

**

"Wow." Sam turned back to the table after wishing Jack a good night. "I wish I still had that kind of energy."

She studied Rebecca for a moment, concerned about what had just happened. Rebecca still read as a little jittery, but like she was managing to settle again. Sam glanced across to Chrissie, and knew from the expression on her face that she'd noticed something was amiss too.

"Remy, you okay?"

Rebecca took a long slow breath. "I will be, as long as nothing else surprises me."

"So it's not just me then."

Rebecca made brief eye contact and sighed. "I guess not."

"Why don't I give you two some space to talk, huh?" Christine started to rise from the table.

Rebecca looked up. "You don't have to go, Chris."

"No, I know. But you two have had a heck of a night, and I want to go check in on Patrick, figure out if these folks are gonna have enough of a watch on their own or if he and I are going to need to take a shift. You two are definitely out of the running, you need the rest."

"Okay. Thank you, and for helping with stuff back here while we were running around in the woods too."

"Sure, babe."

When Christine looked her way, Sam nodded at her. "Yeah, thanks. Tell Pat I appreciate the ride for me."

"You got it."

As their friend left, Sam turned so she was sitting sideways on the bench. "You sure you're okay?"

Rebecca took another deep breath, then reached for Sam's knee and patted it. "The last few days are surreal, and whatever the hell is going on in my head, it's just not me, and that part's disturbing on its own. But given the circumstances, yeah. What about you?"

"I can't help feeling like this is another thing that might be my fault. If I hadn't gotten into it with what's-her-face, then her dad wouldn't have been making a scene, and then people wouldn't have been distracted and hurt."

Rebecca inhaled to answer, but Sam held up her hand.

"I know, I know. There's no way to know, and it's like with my mom, ultimately it doesn't come down to me, it boils down to someone else. The doubts still suck though, y'know?"

"Believe me, I do." They shared a smile and few quiet moments of sympathy until Rebecca yawned.

"Come on," Sam said. "Let's get cleaned up."

**

With the upper floor of the house totally vacant now, a few more liberated residents relocated their sleeping arrangements upstairs. Rebecca considered them lucky for being able to block out any negative associations with the space, but didn't envy them, as their migration meant she and Sam were able to drag their cots into a quieter corner of the barn. A half-height partition provided a little privacy, letting them run a lantern on a brighter setting, and their sleeping bags were warm enough the extra drafts through the nearby walls weren't too bad.

They sat together on the cots now while Sam redid the bandages on Rebecca's forehead; they'd gotten somewhat rumpled by all the action, the night vision goggles, and face washing.

"Oooh, this butterfly bandage got dislodged and stuck again, kinda close to the wound. This part's probably going to hurt."

Rebecca nodded and put her hand on Sam's knee for comfort, since one of Sam's hands was gently holding her face still and the other grasped the pair of tweezers she was working with.

Sam must have appreciated the contact, as she hesitated long enough to look into Rebecca's eyes and smile. "Hi sweetie. Ready?"

Rebecca nodded, and limited her wince when Sam lifted the adhesive strip away to the other side of her face. "Yeow. You're right, that stung."

"Mmm. Sorry, sugar. But not in the blaming myself way because, y'know. Working on that. Maybe we should cover it back up again." Sam set the tweezers down on the zipped-open first aid kit and withdrew a tube of Neosporin, dabbing some carefully on the spot where the wayward bandage had irritated the healing laceration.

The ointment's cooling sensation eased Rebecca's discomfort and she sighed. "You always were good at patching me up."

"Well, you know. I gotta clean up my own messes." Sam's eyes twinkled playfully, matching her lopsidedly pursed lips.

"Like I can't find my way into enough on my own to keep you busy." Rebecca feigned excess chagrin. "But I like it when you play nurse."

"Nurse?!?" Sam looked around after realizing how loud she had been, embarrassed. "Oops." She giggled quietly into the back of her hand as she was preparing to put a normal gauze-and-strip bandage over the antibiotic cream. "With these hands, I'll have you know, I coulda been a surgeon instead of such a proficient solderer."

"Heh. But then you wouldn't have gotten to smash robots to bits with other robots."

"Dammit Jim, I'm a mech pilot, not a doctor! Wait, that's backwards."

Rebecca closed her eyes with an amused sigh and smile, keeping still while Sam finished. When she had, Rebecca didn't re-open her eyes immediately. "You can kiss me, if you want. It seems like the kind of time you would."

Sam didn't reply, but Rebecca felt fingertips trace over her cheek, then Sam's lips against hers. They both savored it for a few moments, and then she opened her eyes when Sam sat back and spoke.

"I miss you. Not that I'm trying to at all pressure you, I want to give you the space you need."

"I know, Rosie." Rebecca's voice was a soft appreciative murmur.

"But I just wanted you to know that I miss all the good stuff, and that I'm waiting for when we can get back to it again."

Rebecca smiled and ran her fingers over the back of Sam's hand and along the sleeve covering her forearm. "I didn't say you needed — I mean, that I needed you to stop yet."

Sam smiled. "Say when."