Adrift by Homeric

Jacey's put him on pastry duty and that's alright with John. Rolling out the dough gives him something to focus on while she tells her story. In turn she seems to find comfort in opening the cans of pumpkin purÃ©e and measuring out the spices once she's found a saucepan to her liking.

In the kitchen she's a different young woman to the one that he had rescued from the apartment building. Her hands are quick, deft as she measures and stirs. Briefly she seems to catch herself so as not to order him out the way.

"You like to cook." Reese keeps his tone neutral, but when she gives a quick smile he returns it. "Me, I'm alright with the basics but it's not much fun cooking fancy things for just one person. I live off take out."

"Pumpkin pie isn't fancy," Jacey protests. Stirring the mixture, she takes the saucepan off the heat before adding the condensed milk. "Mom wasn't exactly big on the whole home cooking thing so I learned pretty fast. Josh and Jake didn't even care what was in their sandwiches so long as you cut them into a bunny shape. What are you doing?" She looks utterly perplexed at his attempts to put the pastry into the tin that he had found in the cupboard. "That's square â€“ do you have a round one?"

John honestly isn't sure. He knows where he's hidden his weapons in the kitchen but he hasn't bothered to get to know the well stocked cupboards beyond using a couple of plates and bowls.

"There's..." He pulls out the drawer underneath the oven. "These."

Jacey quickly sorts through the half dozen tins inside it before finding one to her liking. "Do you have any butter?"

John opens the fridge and hands her an unopened packet.

"Who is she? The woman in the picture."

"A friend."

"No she isn't." The young blonde takes the pat of butter that John hands her, greasing the tin before carefully arranging the pastry inside it and pouring in the pumpkin mix. "I mean you two might be friendly but come on. Keeping a picture of her on your phone? What is she, an ex?"

John leans back against the counter. Somewhere out there Finch is probably laughing at him.

Jacey saves him from having to respond to a question that he doesn't know how to answer.

"Not an ex then, a maybe if you weren't friends thing?" She puts the dirty bowls in the sink and cleans them, handing them over to John who dries them and puts them away. "Does she know that you're in love with her?"

"She's a friend." Despite the fact that Jacey had already dismissed that assertion John repeats it anyway. Perhaps if he said it enough times it would magically become true. She quirks an eyebrow up in disbelief at that but doesn't push for further information.

"You said that my sisters and my brothers were safe. Is that true?"

"As far as I know." Lying to the girl would be pointless â€“ she'd see through him in a heartbeat. "They're in the foster system, a friend of mine is trying to locate them."

"The woman in the photograph?"

"No. But she's on your side too."

"So." Jacey pulls out a stool from underneath the kitchen counter and slides onto it. "I promised you my story. Where do you want to start?" Crossing her legs primly, she smiles, but John isn't remotely fooled by her false bravado.

"Who was the man in the apartment where I found you?"

"It depends on who you ask." The spoon she had been about to put in the drawer is tapped against her knuckles, put down again and picked up. "When I met him he was James. Nice recent graduate who worked in advertising. " She shrugs. "I couldn't believe that he was interested in me. He was really kind he listened. I'm not, I mean I don't.." She puts the spoon down and then picks it up again. "He said he wanted to marry me. Pretty stupid right? But I just.. Things were so bad at home and I thought maybe if I was a married woman and not just some kid then I'd be able to get to see my brothers and sisters. Social Services already warned me off twice for hanging around the twins's school."

"But it didn't work out that way," John says quietly. He keeps his distance and tries not to crowd her. Jacey's talking freely but it's a brittle sort of bravery. It's not new â€“ give hostages a hint of kindness or a friendly voice and they tended to cling to you like a drowning person would to a life-raft. Just because he's trying to help her doesn't mean that his training is any less effective.

"James was the first man I ever, you know, slept with." Her cheeks flush and she keeps her eyes on the spoon in her hand. "Once I was in the city it was two days before he sold me. I was so confused I didn't even say no. At least I don't think that I did. He had friends who called him Jimmy. They had guns and they were always high. It was like I was always waiting for James to tell them to leave me alone but he just laughed and let them.. You know... And where was I supposed to go?"

"Grayson Kent?"

"James.. Jimmy is scared of him, they all are. Traci, she was at the apartment with me when I first got there told me that Grayson likes his girls quiet and I was." She gives a nervous smile. "He's not exactly vanilla when it comes to sex. He likes to mark his women." Pulling down her -shirt she reveals an unmistakable bite mark on her shoulder.

"Do you know where Traci is now"

Jacey shakes her head. "I know that they had other girls in different places. They talked about a Starlight Motel when they thought that I was asleep."

John keeps very calm when there is a knock on the door and doesn't pull his gun although he really feels like shooting someone. He pays for the pizza, tips the delivery boy and smiles at Jacey.

The pumpkin pie turns out fine when the oven timer pings. Not perfect but perfectly acceptable. Probably. He's not actually sure what they are supposed to look like anyway.

Jacey gets through a third of the pizza and two old episodes of the X-Files before falling asleep. John takes a few minutes before throwing a blanket over her, picking her up and putting her on the bed before settling onto a chair by the door. She looks comfortable and at least one of them might as well get some sleep.