Jemma's Pov:

When did the guys say they were coming to pick us up? Tina asked.

I looked at the hotel clock. "Um they said around 9 and it's 8 45."

"Soooo have you thought about our talk earlier?"

I sighed. "Yeah, and you're right. Me acting stupid slutty isn't going to show him I'm ready. I was thinking about that. I just feel like I know we're going to be together a long time, maybe even forever. If he asked I'd marry him the day I turn 18. I get where he's coming from about rushing it. I just want to be with him completely ya know. Oh god I just realized that I'm acting like Drake! I'm pressuring him to have sex with me, Ughhh how pathetic am I?"

I threw myself back on the bed feeling like a total loser. I'm doing the same thing that I hated Drake for doing.

"Hey!! I said my style was slutty temptress. Not stupid slutty!" She joked.

"Yeah you are kinda being Drake-ish but it's totally different. You're only pushing it because you know he wants to but he's waiting for you. If it was because he wasn't ready you wouldn't push it. So chill baby-doll. You're not pathetic! You're just a hormonal teenager in love with a sexy guy." she said patting my head like a was a puppy.

"I'm just going to drop it. I'm mean what we do, do is beyond awesome and it's not like he's complaining about not actually fucking me. I'll let everything play out naturally without pushing for more."

There was a light tap coming from our door. "Alright woman, let's go have some fun with our guys!" she cheered

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Nahh my baby brother's blushing. Jemma what in the world are you telling him?" Skip teased as we walked into the amusement center.

"I busted his ass! Called him out on staring at my booty!" I laughed as Michael turned even redder.

 It's funny that he can be so naughty when we're alone but gets shy in front of others.

"Skip stop calling me baby brother! You're only like 11 months older then me dip shit!" Michael rolled his eyes

"I was wondering about that" Tina said "Especially since you act like you're about 15 years younger then him!" She teased.

"So you're saying I act like a 7 year old?" Skip whined in a kiddish voice.

We all nodded "Shweeeeet! Then go buy me some legos!!"

We spent the next 3 hours playing laser tag, riding bumper cars and rollerblading. We made it back to the hotel around midnight

I decided to crash in Michael's room. Of course Skip had no problem bunking in my room with Tina.

 I wonder how things are going with those two.

Michael and I had been lying in bed for a while and I still couldn't sleep. "Sex-Nip, you still awake?" I asked nudging him a little.

"Yeah love, what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk about some things I've been thinking about." I rolled over and faced him.

"What's been on your mind sweetheart?" he sounded worried.

He always sounds worried when I say I wanna talk. Maybe I should start phrasing it differently so he doesn't get any wrong ideas.

"The other day you said you'd been shot, stabbed and had been held captive for three months as a prisoner of war." I trailed off so he could explain.

He sighed "Yes" he knows one word answers bug me.

"Well?" I prompted. 

He stayed silent for a minute.

"I want to know about it but if you're not ready to talk to me about it I'll drop it." I told him honestly.

He tightened his hold on me and began "Because my birthday is early I was supposed to graduate a few months before my 18th birthday. However I took accelerated courses and graduated half way into senior year. I joined the army a few days after Christmas. Because I was still 17 my parents had to sign a wavier. Anyway I tested really well on the ASVAB and was given my choice of jobs. I chose interrogator so I could be just like Skip. I finished basic training and was sent to Fort Huachuca for counter intel training. Once finished I was stationed at Fort Hood. I ended up gaining a place in a special ops unit. There was 8 of us in my squad split into two 4 man teams. I was in Bravo team with Jake, Sean and Evan. Alpha team had Skip, Mark, Erik and Kevin."

"As you know I was in for a little over 5 years and spent 3 of those years in combat zones. The rest of my time was spent in different trainings, some by the army some by different three letter agencies. The eight of us literally had no life outside of our group. About two years before I got out we were sent to Afghanistan. According to intel there was a major incident in the works. One that would make September 11 seem like a prank. Alpha team had been working a voluntary source (meaning they weren't a prisoner. Free to come and go) for a few weeks. Kevin was the newest interrogator for Alpha team and was still hesitant about his skills. He wasn't sure if the guy was honest or maybe even trying to play him. So he asked for Bravo team to come take a crack at him since the other members of his team were occupied with their own detainees. I was working my own source at the time about two hours away. But I was getting ready to wrap it up with him. I'd already gotten just about every useful piece of information out of him already. So it was all a matter of dotting my I's and crossing my T's."

He took a slow steady breath.

"I was supposed to meet with my source that afternoon but he was found murdered in his cell a few hours before. Because of that we left early to meet Alpha. They were in a police station conducting the meet. When I got inside Skip came out to brief me on the situation with their guy. But honestly it was just so we could talk. We hadn't seen each other in about a month because we'd both been so busy working our sources trying to one up each other. You know friendly competition and all that." He chuckled softly and shook his head.

"It sounds callus but it helped us cope with um certain things if we made a friendly game out of it and didn't focus on all the negativity. Anyway, a few minutes later I asked him go to our HumV to get me some things I was going to use during my interrogation. He was only gone a minute when all hell broke loose. Apparently the guy they had flipped, turned on us and detonated a bomb. He was at the back of the station but the explosion was big enough that it instantly killed everyone in the police station, but myself, Skip, Sean and Evan. "

"Jake had gone to the back to bullshit with one of the translators so he was in the direct blast zone. Skip had been in the HumV so he didn't sustain any injuries. The other three of us were thrown by the force and knocked unconscious. Sean ended up with internal damage and died a few days later in the hospital. Evan and I ended up being captured during the commotion. Skip had tried finding us but by the time he got to were we would have been, we were gone. I don't remember anything from the time the bomb went off until 2 days later."

"I woke up tied up in a make shift cell with Evan. I couldn't tell if he was still passed out or dead. So I spent a while working my binding off. It probably only took minutes but it felt like hours. I got to him and saw that he was still alive but badly beaten. I cleaned his wounds the best I could. Which honestly wasn't much. The room we were in had dirt floors, and that was it. No water, no anything. I was a little sore and thirsty but for the most part fine. I knew what was going to happen."

"Sometime later our captors came in. They didn't know that I spoke Arabic and I didn't inform them. They took me to another room and spent the next several hours 'interrogating me' Unfortunately I was in uniform so they knew I wasn't a private as I'd said. I had to be dragged back to my cell because they worked me over so badly I couldn't walk. So I made my plan. As soon as Evan was a little better we'd overtake our guards and fight our way out. Better to fight for a chance then wait to die. I'd heard them talking about their plans for us and it wasn't good."

"Evan woke a couple of days later. Before I could even speak to him they took him out. That's how the next couple of weeks went. They took turns with us. Which ever one was left behind would try and clean the other's wounds. Cuts, cigarette burns, electrical burns, broken bones. You name it we got it. They gave us only enough food and water to stay alive but weakened. They only waited a day or two in between sessions. So we were too weak to fight back and would hopefully break. Evan was so young and our newest member. This was his first tour and he couldn't handle it. He figured if he gave them some false information maybe they wouldn't figure out it was fake and would actually take it easy on him. He was wrong. "

"He was shot in the chest in our cell. He died in my arms. They left him there for 3 days. I remember one of the guards telling me to let that be a lesson that lying has consequences. I think that, more then the beatings and torture was what made me lose it. I was done. Ready to die. I was dying actually. I had stopped eating and drinking, that coupled with the abuse only took a few days. I figured I'd go out on my own terms. They wouldn't allow it though. They brought in a doctor to get me better. They held me down and sedated me when I fought him. And so the cycle continued for 2 more months. I'd be at deaths door and that bastard doctor would fix me up just so they could send me back"

"I was woken up in the middle of the night with sounds of a fire fight. I had just endured one of their sessions so I was barely able to move. But the noise was music to my ears. It got my adrenaline pumping enough for me to make my move. The guard outside my cell had been asleep and was awaken by the noise also. I snuck up on him and attacked. In the struggle his gun got knocked away. I went for it but just as I grabbed it he stabbed me in my lower back. Missed my kidney by and inch. Before he could finish me off he was shot. Skip and a group of Rangers search and rescue had stormed our location and come for us."

"Only it wasn't us anymore it was just me. He helped me up and we started to make our way out. We were so close to being free when we came up on a few insurgents. The guy that did my torture was one of them. He managed to shoot me once before he was killed by a shot to the head by my gun discharged by my own hand."

"His shot hit my leg and went straight through. By then my Adrenalin ran out and I literally just dropped. Skip carried me the rest of the way out and field dressed my more serious wounds to get me stable enough to make it to the base hospital. I woke up from a coma a little over a week later in a hospital in Germany. The base did what they could to stabilized me then shipped me to Germany because they had a facility better equipped. I had a total of 15 freshly broken bones and some internal bleeding they had stopped. I stayed in that hospital for another 4 months recovering."

"During my capture I'd lost almost 40 pounds, had a total of 70 broken bones in different stages of healing and then everything that happened the final night. All I heard the whole time I was there was how lucky I was. I didn't feel lucky though. I had a major case of survivors guilt. When a soldier goes through what I went through, there's an endless amount of debriefing, psychical and psychological testing. Even though I didn't have PTSD it was still mandatory for me to go to counseling. After about six months state side I was allowed to redeploy. I did my final tour. Which lasted about 7 months without incident. Then came home and finished the last month of my contract. I thought about staying in but Skip changed my mind."

"You see, out of the eight of us only us two survived. We were in a high risk field so we knew our odds. That wasn't what stopped me. Since I was captured and then freed I'd thought about my fallen soldiers, about Evan and about what I went through. I'd never given any thought to what Skip went through. He blamed himself for not getting me out before they took me and he blamed all my injuries and guilt on not finding me right away. What he thought and felt when he'd seen me stabbed. When I passed out after being shot he'd thought I'd died. That week I was in a coma and they were working on me he stayed be my side. He'd disobeyed orders to find and rescue me. He lied to our parents about where I was during my absence. They knew we were interrogators but thought we stayed on a base surrounded by a million soldiers. Even now they know nothing about what went on, the bomb or my subsequent captivity. He told me he couldn't go through that again."

"So I became a civilian. You, Skip and some government officials are the only ones that know what happened. They gave me some medals and awards like that made everything better and that's it. So as I was telling you the other day. If I can make it through all that, there is nothing I cant get through."

I had spent the entire time he was telling me his story silently crying. Trying to hold it in so I could comfort him, be strong for him. I couldn't any longer. I know it was over with but it still broke my heart.

I couldn't stop thinking about everything he went through. It's so horrible and I know for a fact that he down played the torture. Trying to shield me from the worst of it. What if things had gone differently and he hadn't made it.

I started to sob.

 I couldn't stop. 

He held me closer.

"Shh Love, it's okay. It's over and I'm fine. I'm here and I've got you! Shh baby everything is okay. I'm great. You don't need to worry about me." he assured me which just made me cry harder.

"How can you say that? Everything is not okay. You could have been killed, I could have lost you before I even found you" I wailed

"Because everything IS okay. I made it and I'm here in bed with the love of my life. Was it horrible then? Hell yes. But if I hadn't of gone through that Skip wouldn't have had his heart to heart with me and I probably would have rejoined and be in some hot hell hole now instead of lying here with you in my arms. So in a way I'm thankful I went through that. It brought me to you and you're worth more than a few bad months!" He said serenely still cradling me close to him.

"I love you so much Michael and I'm so glad you made it to me!" I kissed him and held him as tight as I could.

I never wanted to let him go. 

He's a miracle. 

He's endured so much and is still such an amazing man!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The van pulled into the school parking lot and I jumped out. I just wanted to be back in Michael's arms. I know it's silly but I just want to make sure he's safe. Skip pulled up in my car and me and Tina hopped in.

 We dropped Tina off and we headed home. Michael had a few things he had to do at school before he left. 

I wanted to talk to Skip while we were still alone, which is why I asked Tina to go home.

"Hey Skip, I know it's dumb of me to say this but thank you so much." I hugged him hard.

"Umm sure thing muffin butt, but uhh what exactly are you thanking me for?" he looked completely puzzled.

"Michael told me everything last night and I know he would have died if you hadn't saved him. I know he's your brother and this was before he even met me but I still wanted to thank you because you brought him to me." I started to tear up and hugged him tightly again.

When I pulled back he held on to me and sniffled. "Wow, you know you are the only one he's told? He never even really talked about it to me. I just know what the doctors said."

He squeezed me once more then let go. "Well, I just want to thank you. You brought my brother back to me and I'll love you like my own blood forever for that!" he kissed my cheek and I just sat there confused.

"What do you mean?" I finally asked.

"Over the years our job changed us. We joined as kids but you cant be a kid in our field. It gets you killed. So we both had to grow up fast. But after the bombing and his capture Michael wasn't the same at all. I hadn't heard him laugh since it happened. So in total I hadn't heard him laugh and be genuinely happy in over two years. Now you can't slap the smile off his face and for that I thank you."

We hugged again and got out of the car. "Ya know the three of us should go to the movies or something tonight. Shake off the heaviness before school starts again tomorrow Whaddya think?" He asked as we went in.

"Yeah if Michael wants to. We should go a town over just to be on the safe side though."

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We pulled up to the theater to watch the 8 o clock showing of the Avengers. Thor.....can you say yummy!! The previews rolled and I got comfy cuddled up to Michael.

The movie was almost over and Michael had been trying to distract me the entire time. Hehe I think he's a little jealous of the oh so drool worthy Thor. He kissed me into oblivion and I moaned as he nibbled my lip.

"Ughh Come on dude. I love you two but I soo don't want to see y'all bumping uglies! Talk about making me feel like a third wheel." Skip teased

"You're just mad cause Tina isn't here" Michael threw at him.

"Um no" Skip said

"Uh Yeah" Michael teased

"Are not!" Skip growled

"Are to!" Michael teased

"You're stupid" Skip taunted

"Well you're ugly!" Michael threw back

"Pshh I'm better looking then you." Skip yelled

By this time people were turning and shh'ing us.

 I couldn't help but laugh at these dorks arguing like 6 year olds! Back and forth and each one talking louder then the other until they were louder then the movie.

The ushers showed up with their flashlights and asked us to leave.

"Not a word out of either of you!" I ordered like I was their mom and grabbed Michael's keys and drove to McDonalds.

We got out and went inside. When it was our turn to order they stayed mute so I huffed and ordered them whatever. 

Once we sat down I began my lecture

"You two are grown ass men and behaved like children! I cannot believe y'all got us thrown out! What do you have to say for yourselves?" I asked trying to keep from cracking up at their whipped dog expressions.

"We're sorry Jems" they said in unison. I rolled my eyes and we began to eat.

"I'm gonna get a refill y'all want anything?" Skip asked. 

We shook our head no.

Michael and I were talking and I felt someone grab my shoulder from behind. I spun around thinking it was Skip being stupid.....

 It wasn't. 

There stood a very happy looking Mrs. Green. 

FML this is so not good. think. think. think of something.

"Hello Betty how have you been?" Michael asked sounding as calm as ever.

"Oh good. Just fabulous actually." She turned to me and smiled even wider.

"Well hello there Jemma. It's so weird to see you here with your teacher... I guess you got tired of screwing all the boys and started on the male faculty. How positively interesting."

Keep cool, she has no proof, just say you're here with Skip. Where the hell is Skip?

"Betty I already told you before I wont tolerate you talking about Jemma that way." Michael growled.

"Oh and what are you going to do? Have Security escort me out again so I don't offend your little tart?" She tossed her head back and cackled.

Bitch is starting to piss me off. I sneered hatefully at her.

"You don't know what your talking about Betty. I think you've lost it since being fired. Your little obsession with who I sleep with is beyond disturbing. I suggest you seek professional help. I'm here with Mr. Jenkins' brother. So back off and quit trying to slander a good teacher and a model student!" I yelled at her.

"Model student my ass. You're a cheap whore who is obviously screwing teachers for grades now. I wouldn't be surprised if you've been spreading your legs for Mr. Erickson. That would make sense as to why you received no punishment for you impudent behavior!" She screamed back at me.

Michael took a step towards her but I shook my head.

 I can handle this. I always handle my own problems.

"Look Crazy, for the last time. You got yourself fired by your own actions and you have only yourself to blame. If you keep harassing me I will press charges on your crazy stalker ass so back the fuck off because I'm losing my patience with your bullshit!" I yelled.

"Just wait until I tell the school board about this! Ha you're gonna be expelled and your little boy toy is gonna get fired. They'll see I'm right about you and reinstate me." She almost did a happy dance.

I saw a cop car pull up.

 Okay weird but whatever. 

Maybe I can end this quickly before they become involved.

"Yeah good luck with that ya psycho. I already told you nothing is going on with me and Mr. Jenkins. I'm here with his brother! So you don't have shit. At the end of the day I win and you lose. I did nothing wrong and you're unfit to be a teacher. So put that in your pipe and smoke it because as you've proved you must be high on something! There is absolutely nothing you can do to bring me down because I'm innocent!" I yelled.

"Oh ha right, innocent and I'm sure you're telling the truth about Michael's brother also. You're nothi-"

She was cut off by Skip stepping up beside me "Hey baby" he kissed my cheek then looked at Mrs Green "I thought I'd already told you I wouldn't allow you to speak to my girl like that!" He bellowed taking a menacing step towards her.

She took a step back then changed her mind and took a few steps forward again. "You dirty whore I'll kill you!!! You're probably fucking them both!!!" She screamed hysterically and lunged at me. 

In an instant Michael restrained her and Skip pushed me protectively behind him.

Next thing I know "FREEZE" is being yelled.

 We all stopped and the maniac got eerily quiet for a split second before her hysterics started all over again.

"Thank god you got here officer this man is trying to assault me!" She wailed woefully.

"Release the woman and step away" the cop commanded Michael.

He did what he was told and the cop tried to cuff him. Saying he was being arrested for attempted assault and battery. 

So Skip got involved and so did I.

Next thing we know back up is being called and we're all handcuffed and being led to the cop cars. 

Michael's being arrested for attempted assault and me and Skip for obstruction. As I was being put in the car Mrs. Green walked up with fake tears and asked to speak to me. 

The young officer agreed and she leaned against the window. Once he walked around to get in she smile and said

"I told you I'd make you pay and this is just the beginning. I'm going to the school to have a nice little chat with the principal tomorrow. Enjoy jail bitch!" with that she turned and left.