TILL DAWN.

"I know you've already did that, but I need you to promise not to judge me! Their state is much worse than the pictures." She prefaced, finally letting Jordan see the few potted plants she had in her kitchen window, who had definitely seen better days. Kam had known Jordan better for a few months now, ever since her students' aunt started picking them up regularly and showed signs of being really into the kids' assignments. They had talked about all things art-related, but this was the first time they were entering the plant territory. "I'm gonna legit start thinking you're Mother Nature if you manage to save any of thiss, by the way."

Sweeping forward, she picked up one of the small pots and held it up to eye level. “I know succulents are supposed to be able to survive anything, but, they actually don’t do well with all the humidity that you can have in kitchens.” She glanced over her shoulder at Kam’s living room. “This guy would probably do better on your window sill back there, with dry heat and direct sunlight so he don’t have to stretch out to try to get more vitamin D.”  

Iyana  returned  with  three  churros ,  standing  in  front  of  them  with  a  wide  grin.  Disappearing  and  returning  with  a  sweet  treat  is  the  way  to  go  to  avoid  coming  off  as  suspicious.  She  hesitates  briefly  before  giving  Jacob  and  Bella  a  churro.  ❝   We  should  watch  who  will  get  dunked ,   ❞  a  hint  of  curiosity  in  her  eyes ,  coming  off  as  being  nosey.  Something  Bella  is ,  unfortunately ,  a  little  too  aware  of.

The prompt from her bestie was enough to pique her interest. Bella’s attention went from a parent trying to wrangle their kids to Jacob’s phone. At first glance she couldn’t believe the listing. Sedona had dug pretty deep in pockets for this year’s pride weekend. “What?” surprised she reached for his phone to get a better look at the flyer. “Elton John– in Sedona? Hell, Chappell too? Hmm…” The lineup for the concert was hyped for quite some time, but she didn’t think it would be that stacked. Bella returned Jacob’s phone to him. “Here I thought I was going to skip that show for something else.” Now she’ll have to plan an outfit for the concert. Her mind had already begun spinning through the options in her mind when Iyana returned. 

“Churros, yes!” If there’s one thing about festivals, is the opportunity to indulge in foods she doesn’t normally partake in. “Oh, that’ll be funny,” she comments before biting into the treat. “Let’s go see what idiot signed up for this travesty.” It would never be an attraction that she would do, even for charity. Bella would rather donate the funds to the cause and not have to sit up there to be stressed out. Would it be a ten year old or Doli sending her plunging into water? Is not a question she wants to ask herself.

They watched as a couple different people inevitably got dropped into the tank, Jake joining in in the crowd’s laughter and teasing, until finally, after a large man hod gotten dunked by a little girl, the event organizer stepped forward. “Alright ladies and gentlemen, next up we have…” he paused for dramatic effect before breaking into a grin, “Bella Henderson! Miss Henderson, please make your way to the front!” Jake couldn’t help the mischievous grin that came to his lips as he turned to watch Bella’s reaction. 

Shaking his head, Jake let out a mirthless chuckle. “No one’s looking for trouble, Elliott,” he corrected. “But some of us don’t just disappear in order to avoid difficult conversations.” 

Nadia caught the way his arm slid along the back of the booth behind her and smiled in response, though she did her best to tuck it behind the rim of her near empty glass. There was something super disarming about Dre looking at her like that, especially when she'd spent the better part of the evening telling herself she wanted nothing complicated. "Does that mean you're happy to see me?"

There were so many questions left hanging after the whole speed dating situation, so much Nadia was desperate to understand. But then the church fire happened, and suddenly all of it felt selfish to bring up. Whatever had been left unsaid didn't matter as much as what Dre was clearly carrying with his family. Especially after Darius had mentioned that he'd really been going through it. Nadia could be stubborn, and maybe she had a little bit of a habit of disappearing when things got too close, but she wasn't about to walk into his life demanding answers just because she wanted them. So, instead, she remained quiet and gave him space, and told herself it was the right thing to do.

"Mhm. Girls night," Nadia confirmed, lifting her glass slightly. "Or it was, before my friend abandoned me to get some more drinks. But I think she's been swallowed by the crowd." She glanced out towards said crowd, though only for a second before looking back at him, letting her eyes roam over him curiously. Damn, he looked good. The music pulsed around them, loud enough to give her an excuse to lean in just a little closer, her knee brushing his beneath the table. "And what about you? Boys night?" she asked, eyes narrowing with playful suspicion. "Or is this where you hide from all your adoring guests?"

“Well, that’s very lucky for me,” he quipped as she leaned in, her intoxicating scent surrounding him, her mere presence proving more intoxicating than anything in his glass. At her question, he quickly shook his head, a chuckle escaping his lips. “More like I had some work to do with the manager earlier and was too worn out to head home.” He couldn’t bring himself to admit the real reason. Even Dre knew how bad it would look to explain to someone that the entire reason he’d come here tonight was to have a steady stream of drinks while he drank himself into oblivion by himself. 

He didn’t want to kill the mood with his depressing attitude. So he quickly turned the attention back to her, back to safer, flirtier territory. “So this friend of yours, should I be worried she’s coming to find you any minute now, or do I have you to myself for a while?” he questioned, His thumb brushed absently against the fabric of the booth near her shoulder, not quite touching her, but close enough that the intent wasn't subtle. He didn’t want to be too obvious, but now that he’d gotten a taste of her distraction, he wasn't eager to see her slip away so soon.

Darius’ hands fell to his sides in the moment of defeat and silent frustration. He should have anticipated his well-meaning statements to be thrown back in his face. Darius shook his head in the negative, it was tempting to feed into the depreciating angle Andre was spinning. He ran a palm over his face as Andre turned to leave. With Andre’s destination still being the car park, Darius remained rooted in place. He is relieved when Andre provides an explanation that he could live with, well at least partially. Darius should leave him alone, let him continue along and sleep things off at the office but he simply could not. 

He follows his brother, determined not to heed the many warnings on display. Maintaining decorum in public is also shoved aside. “So, you get knocked down, and that’s fucking it?” Darius expresses his disbelief with a sprinkle of disappointment in his tone. He may be able to mask it with regards to facial features, but his emotions in his voice cannot lie. “You throw your hands up and call it quits? That’s your grand solution?” The judgment of his actions are spilling out now, the more Andre attacks him verbally. “You can’t go around just burning everything else good in your life, then expect that the people who care about you are just going to stand by and allow that.” Andre might be pissing him off right now but he keeps reminding himself that this is all coming from a place of pain. “Take time to grieve. That’s fine. I’m not expecting you to be the same guy that was on top of the world a year ago.” Things have obviously changed, and for the worst but he believes in his brother, and knows that he will eventually forge a new path. Whatever that may look like, Darius intends to support him along the way. 

“But,” he paused, tone commanding. “This oh no poor me, my life is ruined, leave me alone B-S you have going on is not going to fly with me.” And now that he’s very much aware of Andre’s struggles he’s going to become ever more present and even a bit annoying going forward. “I’ll leave now, but it’s not because that’s what you want.” He has to pick up Naima and doesn’t want to be late. “If I had my way, I’d be making you come home with me. A pity party in your office is not going to do you any good.”

But at this point, he knows there's no winning. He's not going to convince Darius just as much as Darius isn't going to convince him. So he keeps walking, refuses to turn around and let Darius see just how much his disappointment in him was the one thing that almost got through. "Funny, I don't remember asking for any of y'all's permission," is all he throws over his shoulder as he finally reaches his vehicle. Dre yanks the door open, grabs his overnight bag, which he's been making a lot of use of lately, throws the strap over his shoulder, and slams the door shut again, before whirling around and storming back in the direction of Le Rouge, refusing to look over his shoulder at his brother again. He can't risk it.

He couldn't say why hearing that Nailah had been with Jordan calmed him slightly, maybe it was just that she'd had someone there that he knew, someone who could tell him something that wasn't just a medical professional. "You were there? Are you okay? Do you have enough water, do you need anything?" His mind was going one million miles per hour and suddenly, he felt like he had another person he needed to worry about. He'd already had a text from his assistant that Mati's dog walker had picked him up and had taken him to the vets as nothing but a precaution.

"She's okay?" He'd heard it from the nurse but as he searched Jordan's face, he finally felt himself let go of the main part of his anxiety. Jordan wouldn't mislead him, he could breathe. He slumped a little, running a hand over his face as he looked towards the room his sister was in. "Thank you for bringing her here and thank you for waiting, I appreciate it more than you know." He may tell his sister regularly that he'd have preferred a dog, but there were no mountains in the world he wouldn't try to move for the younger girl.

"Mr Abbas? Your sister is resting and she needs some sleep, you can go in when she's awake." He nodded at the nurse, looking back to Jordan. "Don't feel like you have to, I know you probably have a load of things you'd rather be doing than sitting with your least favourite person in the world, but.. would you stay with me for a bit?"

She watched as he visibly began to calm down, no longer fearing for his sister's immediate health. She was beginning to put together a picture of the man before her that cared a lot about those around him and their safety. It wasn't until then that she realized she was still holding onto his arm, and she quickly let go, though she didn't step away from him like she normally would have. "Of course, I couldn't just leave her here by herself." Jordan hated hospitals, and as a single woman, knew what it felt like to be left on your own to deal with them when she hadn't lived in Sedona. It didn't matter if she had known Nailah prior to this or not, she wouldn't have left her alone here.

When the nurse approached and let them know Nailah was sleeping, Jordan felt the last remaining anxiety in her over Nailah's condition slip away and she let out a sigh of relief. And as Ziyad asked her to stay, she found herself answering honestly before she'd even thought it through. "I'd be happy to stick around." With the words out of her mouth and no way to take them back, Jordan couldn't help but wonder at them, at herself. She truly didn't mind spending more time with this version of Ziyad.

Looking over her shoulder, she pointed out the spot she had occupied a moment before. "I have nothing to back this up at all, but I'm convinced those are the comfiest chairs in the place." When she turned back to look at him, she found herself offering him a shy smile. Who the heck was she??

"yeah," he exhaled, voice worn thin with defeat, "that makes sense." he felt it in the way the doctor had positioned his arm, and he'd felt it plenty of times before too. he could ignore it as long as he wanted, but jacob was right. the more he pushed, the more he ignored, the greater the risk. "you got me," he chuckled quietly, the usual playful pitch to his tone dulled out. it'd been a couple of years, not months and he felt lucky that he hadn't already caused damage beyond repair.

mav tracked the other man and nodded again. "does that mean i'm sitting out for a little bit?" being cleared was important to him, but he'd follow the steps and do whatever it was that he needed in order to ensure he could get back to himself, or close to it without the threat of further damage. "i'll do whatever you're suggesting to me. i just... if i'm being sidelined... i would like to know for how long."

"Well, we'll need to do a couple tests, probably get a MRI so that we can distinguish for sure what we're looking at, if this is a tear we're talking about or tendinitis," Jake explained, letting out a breath as he began scribbling away on Maverick's chart. Now that the hard part was done and the firefighter had accepted there was in fact something wrong, it was all a more straightforward process.

"If it's a moderate form of tendinitis, you're looking at one to two months of PT with activity modification before full unrestricted return to work. If it's a tear," his gaze flicked up to meet Mav's, knowing the firefighter wouldn't like what he was about to hear. "We're looking at three to six months of PT before returning unrestricted to work." Before Maverick could protest, Jake put the chart down. "But either way, with regular check ups, and good communication with your physical trainer, I'll keep you updated as you go, Mav. We'll keep the Chief updated too and figure out what range of motion is okay and what you can and can't do in the mean time. I don't think this is a 'you're fully benched, can not work at all' sort of situation."

Looking entirely too pleased with herself, she stuffed her phone into her pocket before turning back to him, pulling her extra water bottle from her backpack and offering it to him. "Well, to be fair, you're not from around here, right?" she offered, plopping down in the shade beside him. It was pretty much a Sedona staple at this point, out-of-towners not preparing properly for the severity of the heat or the strenuousness of the hikes they took on. She couldn't exactly blame him for his naivety.

"Depends on how nice you are to me from now on." She shrugged, casual as anything, like the suggestion wasn't already twisting the knife. "Buying me a drink at Open Range, to make up for me saving your life, couldn't hurt." She shot him a smirk, enjoying the feel of having this kind of power over him. If he actually stepped foot in her bar and bought her a drink there, that was checkmate, and they both knew it. 

A sly grin formed at the corner of his mouth, nodding at the admittance. "That was the idea." If the empty drink glasses before them hadn't been proof enough. "Seriously." Levi starts before a brief pause. "You're out here, you're having a good time. That should say a lot."

Her body vibrated with anger. Angry at the idea that he would do this, though she understood why. How could he not have? He'd endured years of being shut out and pushed away, all while simultaneously pulled back in. But still, she was angry. At herself, the situation, and that he hadn't been able to hold on for longer.

It felt torturous to want to turn him away, kick him aside as she'd always had, but also beg for him to rethink everything. He'd been her safe haven but there was no running to him for shelter when he'd removed that option the moment she'd heard the word divorce. "You seemed to know what you wanted enough to get paperwork started rather than coming to me about any of this." It wasn't like he hadn't tried, and she knew that, but she felt like he could have tried harder. Frankly, done anything but this.

The finality of his decision felt like it was suffocating and he'd set something in motion that she didn't know how to stop. "I'm happy that you made a decision for yourself." Clearly he wouldn't be stuck now that he had an out of....—whatever this was. It couldn't be called a relationship, much less a marriage. "So why are you here? Because you're sorry of how I found out or that you've done it? Neither changes anything. Finish what you started and file it. Is that what you want me to say? Don't come here and hope I'll be okay with it to make yourself feel better."

God, how did Kiraz have the power to tear him to shreds so completely? He nodded once, a quick jerk of his head, gritting his teeth against the desire to lash out. But the truth was, he hadn’t been able to do it here either. Jake had no idea how long he would have let things continue the way they had, with no movement on his side, and no clarity for Kiraz, just continuing the spiral, if his sister hadn’t found the papers. In a way, Sage accidentally spilling the beans to Kiraz had accomplished more than Jacob had ever been able to. And his first thought when he’d realized it had happened, had been to question if he actually wanted it to happen after all. How pathetic was that? 

“And how effective do you think that would have been, huh? You think we could have had an open and honest conversation about what we should do at this point, about what either of us actually feels?” Okay so maybe he couldn’t stop himself from lashing out completely. Separated or not, Kiraz always knew how to push his most painful buttons. 

He drew in a ragged breath, chest heaving as the emotions pounded through him. "You're right, I couldn't do it here either. You wanna know why?" His head turned away, unable to meet her gaze as the deepest hurt in his heart came spilling out, laid bare at her feet. "Because every time I got close enough to say it, you'd give me one look and I'd remember why I fell for you in the first place, and I'd think, maybe today's the day she fights for this." A hand dragged down his face, dashing away drops of rain and something else he couldn't quite admit to. "Ten fucking years of maybe today's the day."

"You think I want you to make this easy?" he went on, voice rough. "Kiraz, I've spent ten years hoping you'd fight for this half as hard as you fight for everything else. I would take you screaming at me over this—" he gestured at the space between them, at her arms locked around herself, "—over you standing there telling me to go finish the paperwork like it's nothing. Like we're nothing."

"Yikes," Sage muttered through gritted teeth, the thought of a hot and hangry Jordan flooding her brain. "Honestly? I get it. I think it would have felt weird to see her here as well, if I didn't know what I do now. She was incredibly apologetic. She cried and.... I cried. I think we both just miss her, you know? And that was something we were able to connect on."

Pausing to take a breath, Sage allowed her gaze to shift toward the grass, every step matching Jordan's in pace. "She seemed genuine in her apology, for herself and for her parents. For not only being distant, but for allowing Maeve and I to think that there was a single bone in her body that didn't approve of our love. She doesn't feel the way that their parents do, or did... I guess they have some regrets as well."

“She was apologetic when we spoke as well, and I get that hindsight is 20/20 and all that,” Jordan acknowledged. “But,” she shrugged, trying to dispel the awkward energy she felt over being seemingly the only one who wasn't able to look past the hurt that Mallory’s actions had caused over the years. “While I believe she feels all of those things, I do have to say it feels pretty convenient to feel all of that guilt now when Maeve isn’t here to accept it or not." 

She glanced at Sage from the corner of her eye, softening a little, aware of how that might land for her friend compared to what Sage had just described. “I’m not trying to take away the closure that conversation gave you or anything though, I promise. I just haven’t quite gotten there yet.”