Diego finds her alone, a rare feat these days. MC is sitting quietly in the foyer of the ski lodge, looking out the window. She looks concerned, and considering their current situation he understands why. The people after Jake were now after all of them too. At least for now they had some sense of peace and quiet.

"Penny for your thoughts?" He asks, plopping on the seat across from her.

"I'm worried about Jake," she sighs.

It took everything in him not to roll his eyes at the comment. "Jake's a big boy! He'll be fine!"

MC finally looks away from the window to smile at her friend sadly. "I know, it's just that every time we get close to getting off this island and safe together...it's like we take 10 steps back with something big and scary coming our way." She runs a hand through her hair. "I feel trapped."

She's not the only one.

"We'll get off this island, MC, and before you know it we'll be back in our apartment and the worst thing going on in our lives will be a trigonometry final that's a day away," he smiles reassuringly.

"And then we can celebrate by going to a club afterwards and I get to play wing woman for the millionth time?" Her smile grows.

"Only if you stick around for the inevitable rejection that is sure to come my way," Diego laughs, but it feels hallow as he thinks of Varyyn.

"You'll find someone special, Diego," MC smiles as if she might know exactly what he's thinking.

He takes the opening, while simultaneously deflecting any questions about his own love life. (He’s being a hypocrite, he knows it).

"Speaking of someone special...what's going on with you and Jake?"

MC's eyes go wide at the question and then she giggles. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I've always kind of wondered what you see in him that makes him so special to you?"

MC's face softens and she has a small smile playing on her lips as she relaxes into the couch, propping a foot on the coffee table. She looks like she's a teenage girl thinking about Zac Efron shirtless. And he should know, because when High School Musical first came out back in 2006 he, and every other girl in his school, had the exact same look on their face whenever Zac Efron was even casually mentioned.

"Well," she crosses her arms and blushes.

She's actually blushing! Oh no, he's only seen her do that a few times before. She's a lost cause if he has to convince her that Jake is just a generic asshole.

"He cares deeply, not only about me, but everyone in this group. He's brave. He's funny, and I think we all need that sarcastic sense of humor right now. He's loyal. He's extremely handsome. He makes me smile. He knows how to help get me out of my head space sometimes. He's a good guy and he just wants to do what's right," she pauses and then looks over at Diego, raising an eyebrow. "I could go on, but first I want to hear why you're asking."

Are they even seeing the same person!? Is what he wants to ask, but he figures that MC may take offense to that so he doesn’t bother. His mother always told him if he didn’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. He figures this is one of those times he should actually listen to her.  

"Just wanna make sure he's treating you right, is all," Diego replies, avoiding looking into MC’s eyes as he says so.

MC let's out a laugh and stands up, walking towards her best friend. As if she may know the real reason, she places her hand on his shoulder and gives him a reassuring squeeze. 

"Diego, I promise you have nothing to worry about," she smiles at him, looking into his eyes.

"Princess! I thought I heard you in here," he heard Jake enter and MC stood up straighter to look at him. Diego finally let himself roll his eyes. Speak of the devil.

"Top Gun," she smirks and Diego watches her go over to give him a light peck on the lips. "I'll be right back. Play nice you two." She flips her hair over her shoulder and gives Diego a subtle wink.

"No promises," Jake calls out after her.

 And with that, she left the two of them alone.

Jake had two cups of coffee in his hands. He places one on the coffee table and offers the other to Diego.

"I brought them for Princess and I, but since you're here I figured you can have mine."

"Oh, uh, thanks," Diego mutters as he takes the cup cautiously out of Jake's hands.

"No problemo," Jake says as he flops himself down on the couch where MC was previously sitting.

"You know, with Task Force X out there hunting you down, you seem pretty calm," Diego says, eyeing him suspiciously. "What gives?"

Jake looks over at him seriously. "When you know you're going to die, there's no point in fretting about it, now is there?"

Diego sputters into his drink.

Death!? He is not about to die just because his best friend is in love with a guy who has psychopaths after him. A guy who use to align himself with said psychopaths. Meaning he was once a psychopath himself and most likely still is!

Ok, he knows he’s over exaggerating a little. Jake has done some off-the-wall things, but he isn’t a psychopath. Diego will give him that. However, back to the matter at hand: death!?

"You really think we're going to die? MC-," he's cut off by Jake.

"I would give myself up before MC ever has to face any of them head on again," Jake hisses. "She's not dying on my watch."

Diego's eyebrows scrunch together. Maybe he had Jake pegged wrong after all. He seemed to genuinely care about MC if he was thinking about her first like this.

"So…you're serious about her then?" Diego cautiously ventures out. Jake smiles at him as if to say, 'What do you think?' "I'm curious, MC told me what she saw in you." Jake smirked at that, and something tells Diego he probably overheard. "What do you see in MC?"

He really should of saw this coming after knowing Jake and being around him for as long as they all have been stuck together, but he's still left astounded by the words Jake utters out next that violates his innocent ears.

"My dick."