it wasn’t probably the best way to greet her--- basically her kid. krys was as much as her kid as morgan was at this point--- but. still. no one ever said jessica drew was full of good ideas. plus she knew they both had been slacking on krys’s training. months full of slacking. (she blamed herself, mostly. horrible mom. horrible teacher.) but. today jessica had decided to fix that.

which was why she was standing above the girl’s bed in the middle of the night, flash light on and wrenching the covers off her. “hey. get up. want to go with me on a case?”

(she could multi task. train with krys and work on a case at the same time. she had this.)

                 It was always those moments, the brief transition between sleep and wake, when the brain takes on a certain —– Fogginess, that causes the bridge between the subconscious and one’s train of conscious thought to be intertwined, connected, suspended in this limbo with almost no control from the mind’s user. To Sportsmaster, this would be Krystal’s downfall. But to Krystal —– It would be her saving grace. She didn’t remember why she awoke in bed next to the other woman; perhaps she had spent the night, perhaps she had been having her notorious nightmares once again, or perhaps Jessica had attempted once more to drag her to SHIELD to be ‘fixed,’ the Crock wasn’t entirely positive, but —— All her half-conscious mind knew was that it was comfortable, she was comfortable ——Enough to roll over, rest her head on the woman’s chest, and murmur a sleepy “Ilove you, Auntie —- Momma Jess.” She was content there, for a moment. For the briefest of instants, all was at peace, but then Krystal’s internal alarm sounded, the beating of Jessica’s heart no longing soothing her but stripping her from her semi-conscious state, as though it were a siren blaring her awake. “What the fuck?” She hissed, jolting up from the bed and standing defensively in the corner of the room, hands splayed outward. “How the fuck —– Why the fuck —– I didn’t —–” Her words were incoherent, flustered with confusion and aggravation. She settled on: “What the fuck just happened?!” Before stepping away still, small of her back now pressed against the bedroom wall.

                     jessica knew enough about krystal, especially after the file leak, to know she had to have nightmares. the girl rarely slept as it was, made every excuse to not sleep, went and went until she wad on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion nearly weekly. the blonde might have liked to think it just looked like she was dedicated, a hard worker, but jessica use to--- did the same thing. she knew the signs. so she knew the girl had to have them but, she had just never experienced them for herself. never witnessed the after effects. at least she hadn’t until tonight. she had found the girl looking dead on her feet on campus grounds, bruised, and had insisted she come back to her apartment with her. forced her to eat, made her lay down. jessica’s heart had almost broken with relief when the girl had begun to drift into sleep. and it had seemed like it was going well--- until the nightmares came. that’s how the ex hydra agent had found herself in bed with her student, holding her tight with one hand stroking her hair, talking in quiet tones to calm her down. eventually it had worked, eventually, but jessica was too exhausted and--- too comfortable, honestly, to move.