Jack swallowed against the strange feeling he had while he shot a glance over his shoulder at the Evo behind him. It felt awkward not parking his car on his own driveway and it felt even more awkward when he rang the doorbell like a guest of the house he tended to call home instead of just using his keys like a normal person. But after the little disappearing stunt he had pulled, he felt he had no right to just waltz back in as if he'd only been gone for half an hour when truth clearly told different.

As he waited impatiently for that door to open, nerves struck him again. Maybe coming back here wasn't such a good idea after all. He hadn't left Faye a note or anything when he went AWOL and didn't even call to let any of them know where he was or even that he was alright, leaving him pretty sure that whatever he would be receiving probably wouldn't be all hugs and kisses.

"Damnit.." He shook his head and turned around with every intent of walking back to his car. He was always better at avoiding rather than facing shit when it came to relationships anyway.

Faye turned at the sound of the door, the last time someoen had called her at the house she hadnt liked what she had found, swallowing the balls of fear the crept up her spine she walked slowly over to the door, with a breath she pulled it open and got the shock of her life.

"Jack"she raised a brow, gaze locked on his back as she stood in the doorstep, half of her wanted to hug him for dear life, the other half wanted to kick some sense to him, and the rest needed him just to make her feel safe.

"You were gone"SHe whispered looking at him.

Jack stopped dead in his tracks and closed his eyes for a moment when he heard her voice. It was nice to hear it after all this time and at the same moment it scared the shit out of him. He'd fucked up, he knew that, but the question was how bad.

He let out a breath and finally turned around, facing her with a nervous half assed smile and took a step closer towards her, yet kept his distance. Now that he saw her again, he wanted nothing more than to just hug her and kiss her, but he wasn't sure how she'd react to that and he wasn't looking forward to a kick in the balls either.

"Yeah, and now I'm back.." He mentally kicked himself for the lame words that came out of his mouth and for being such a captain fucking obvious.

Faye nodded her head as she looked at him, folding her arms across her chest, swallowing she felt the tears spring to her eyes but kept them at bay.

"What...Where did you go"she questioned "Why did you go"she shook her head, "I thought something had happened to you"SHe whispered,

Jack felt his heart sink when he saw her eyes well up and the trouble she had with holding in her tears. Being as impulsive as he was, he never really thought about the consequences to his jumping the gun actions and now he couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry. I just uh... I had to go for a while." He gave her another half assed smile. Like that justified anything.

He swallowed at her next words and shook his head when he finally closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her and held her close against him. He didn't care if she would start hitting him or something since he deserved it anyway, but he just couldn't bare the look on her face any longer. "Nothing happened to me. It was just me being a selfish asshole as usual."

Faye swallowed, she wanted to fight agasint him, push him away and yell, but right now, this was exactly what she needed, she needed this comfort, this was exactly what Brian hadnt been able to do. Later she would yell, she would make him talk to her, but right now, she had him back. She burryed her head into his chest, fisting her hands into his chest. She knew the guilt would come later as well, and she prayed he would forgive her for what she did.

"God i was so worried"SHe muttered "You were gone and then i got that god damn package"She chocked back the sobs.

Jack smoothed a hand over her hair, glad that she didn't protest against him, or at least not yet, and just let him hold her for now. He knew the inevitable paying for his actions would come sooner or later though.

While he listened to her, he furrowed his brow and pulled back just enough so he could look at her. The way she started sobbing against him was making him kinda worried. Apparently he had missed a lot in his absence. "A package? What kind of package?"

Faye swallowed looking into his eyes, shaking her head she let out a breath and gestured for him to follow her into the house. She had shooved the box under the kitchen sink, she hadnt wanted to get rid of them, she wanted them gone but she hadnt wanted to handle them,to see them, so she had left them.

This was the first she was even remembering what was in that box, she pushed it over the kicten table, eyes downcast as she took of the lid, the first picture of herself, asleep and battered catching her gaze, turning away from them.

"Someones tormenting me, they want me to remember" She whispered, voice trembling.

Jack didn't know what to expect when he followed her in to the house. When she pulled out the box, he didn't see anything unusual or upsetting about it, but as the lid was taken off, it was safe to say he was dumbstruck at what was revealed and his heart practically skipped a beat.

"Holy shit..." Despite all the cuts and bruises, he still recognized the woman on the pictures to be Faye as he quickly scanned through only the first few. He didn't even want to see the rest of it.

"Did you show this to Brian and he still left you by yourself in the house?" He clenched his jaws while he looked at her. What he really meant was that it was him who had left her by herself, but he just couldn't come out and actually say that without hating himself even more for not being there when this shit went down.

He shook his head and pulled back against him, placing a kiss on the top of her head while he mumbled. "Shit, Faye, I'm so sorry.. I should have been here."

Faye turned towards him at the mention of Brian, shaking her head she gave a soft smile "I wasnt alone Jack"She stated, her words slightly bitter as she looked up at him, but then she thought of Chris and guilt struck her.

"Romes being staying here"She stated softly as he pulled her to his chest, sighing she pulled him closer. "I wont be afraid, not again"She whispered, but she pulled away all too soon, her eyes dark and accusssing as she looked up at him.

"Where did you go"she questioned with a raised brow "Why?" She whispered, softly, her eyes pleading as she looked up at him.

And there they were again, the damned questions he didn't want to answer: the where and the why. He pulled away from her himself and went out of his way to avoid the accusing looks in her eyes while he ran a hand over his face.

"Uhm.. been crashing at a friends place." For his own safety's sake, he neglected to mention the fact that the place wasn't even in the same state as LA and that he hadn't even planned on coming back here after he'd fallen back in to his old habit of toking up and drinking with his buddy practically every night. He didn't quite feel like getting his head bit off completely by Faye just yet.

"And the why?" He shrugged and mumbled. "I don't know. Just happened, I guess."

Faye nodded her head "Right"Folding her arms across her chest she let out a deep breath, grabbing hold of the box she shooved the lid back on and then forced it into the cupboard once more. Shooting a look over at Jack she shook her head, biting back the angry words she wanted to yell at him, she was taking in mind what Brian had said.

"Well next time you want to up and leave, dont expect me to be waiting"She stated softly, anger laceing her words, shaking her head she looked directly into his eyes.

"You think your the only one afraid of how quickly we've been moving, i gave you every chance to walk away" She moved past him, heading towards the living room, where some of her case files were sat, she grabbed them, stuffing them into her bag.

Jack furrowed his brow and turned in her direction as she walked passed him, following her in to the living room. "There won't be no next time, alright?" He bit back the 'I promise' considering his promises usually meant shit. He'd proven his brother and others that plenty of times before.

When he saw her stuffing papers in her bag, he raised his eyebrows a little confused. "You going somewhere?"

Faye twisted, looking at him "Im just cleaning up this mess, i have work later"SHe stated straightening she looked over at him. Letting out a deflated sigh she lowered her gaze, running an angry hand through her hair.

"You needed a break i get that, god knows theres been times i wanted to run, i stuck through it, you should have talked to me, or hell at least gave me the heads up"

Jack huffed, feeling himself getting slightly annoyed and ticked off even though he knew damn well he had no right to be. "So basically you're saying I probably only beat you to the punch. Nice. Do you actually think I planned this? I guess that's why I left all my stuff behind, huh? Fuck! I was lucky I still had that credit card I pinched off of Brian a while back in my glove compartment to pay for gas and shit."

He bit his tongue at the other bullshit that was about to fly out of his mouth when he realized he was only making things worse. He thought he was passed the ugly character trade of not being able to take the blame for his own stupid actions, but clearly he wasn't. Or maybe he was just looking for a punch in the face to help straighten him out.

He shook his head while he turned to the front door with a mumble. "I need a damn smoke."

Faye hissed, slamming down her things as she followed him to the door, forceing it shut before he got out of it. "Your gonna stop running when things get rough"She yelled, looking him directly in the eye, she shook her head.

"Im petriified, every single day that somethings going to go wrong, but i love you, i stuck by it"She whispered.

"All im asking is you to do the same"She whispered "I need you to talk to me"

Jack blinked in surprise when the door was closed right in front of him. He clearly wasn't getting out of this one so easily, but how could he expect it to be easy anyway.

He forced himself to look and listen to her and didn't react when she said the 'I love you' words again even though he felt the same. He just wasn't very good at the 'love' game and tended to bail out whenever it did started to come to that point. The difference now, though, was that he actually wanted to come back to Faye and doing a not so bang up job at that. "Ok, you want me to talk? I'm an asshole and you're too good for me and deserve better." He shrugged, letting out a sarcastic snort. "It's all old news, sweetheart."

Faye shook her head "Yet here i am"SHe stated looking up at him "But your right, after the stunt you pulled i probally do deserve better"Shaking her head she rested her hand on his chest.

"And yet here i am, because i know you have a godo heart"SHe whispered looking into his eyes "You made me smile and feel whole again,when i never thought that was possible"She swallowed forceing down her emotions.

"I know how hard it is not to run when things get difficult Jack"

"I didn't.." He swallowed the rest of the sentence and shook his head. Who was he kidding. He did run and pretty far, too.

Suddenly he just started chuckling to himself. Not that any of this was funny or amusing to him, but he just couldn't help his nerves anymore. He was just damn glad she wasn't taking his shit after he so whole heartily tried to sabotage everything.

"Fuck it. I'm done running." He grabbed a hold of her hand that was on his chest and pulled her against him, not caring how she would react, and leaned down, capturing her lips in a long missed kiss while he savored every moment of it. He smirked in to the kiss while he whispered against her lips. "And as far as I'm concerned, I'm done fighting, too. Unless you wanna give me the spanking I deserve."

Faye sighed, sinking agasint him, eyes drifting closer as she gave into the kiss, her hands snaking around his neck.

"Just never leave me again"SHe whispered, when she finally pulled away, laughing at hsi comment she shook her head "Oh hell no, you are so cute of for like months"She bit her lip, she might as well get this out of the way.

"But there is something i need to tell you"