[RP for dc_knight]

[on_jennys_terms]

It's late when Jen finally ends up at home.  She's tired.  Her fingers ache.  And if it were Friday night instead of Thursday, she'd already be halfway to drunk.  But she sighs as she drops her bag by the door and wanders into the study.  She rifles through the mail that was left on the desk, though nothing catches her eye as being immediately

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[dc_knight]

Heather jumps a bit when the phone rings. She's keeping it with her, screening his calls, mostly to keep the team back in DC from exhausting him. That he's letting her do it is a sign that he actually appreciates the gesture.

She's tired tonight. James has a cold and it means he can't really be with Daddy and it's lead to tired temper tantrums. Leroy is exhausted and sore. But more than the overarching issues they're dealing with, she misses Jenny right now. Jenny's never been a caregiver, but just having someone to distract her through the harder times of this would be nice. Caroline is becoming a good friend, but she's not her sister. But when she sees the caller ID , she stops. If Jenny is calling to be bitchy, she doesn't have it in her. But, if it's important, it can't just go to voice mail. So, with a sigh, and with more emotion in her voice than she realizes, she answers.

"Hey, Jenny." If anyone told her that her voice broke on the second syllable of Jenny's name, she'd deny it.

[on_jennys_terms]

She shouldn't be surprised when Heather answers, but for some reason, she is. Maybe because it's the first time she's called. Having her sister answer his phone makes it all that much more real. And it really drives the point home. She almost feels like hanging up now, but then she'd look foolish. 'Oh yeah, wrong number, sure.' It makes the hole in her heart ache that much more. It doesn't help that she has no idea what to say to Heather. She toes off her shoes and tucks her feet under her as she curls into one corner of the couch.

"Hi," she says with a slight, soft sigh. There's no fight in her tonight.

[dc_knight]

She can hear the sigh, the exhaustion from the other side of the country and the caretaker that she is takes over for a moment. In that moment, for that moment, all the anger she has from the words her sister flung at her fades. She remembers how hard it was to hear Jenny gush about "Jethro" and talk about how perfect he was. She has an idea how empty Jenny feels right now.

"How are you?" She asks, rising from her desk after putting the project she's working on on hold. James is asleep on the couch and she tucks his blanket a bit tighter around him and moves into the kitchen so she can talk for a moment before bringing the phone up to Leroy. Any chance she can get tonight.

She knows the question is probably futile, that Jenny will give her textbook "Fine" and revert back to being angry, but she's going to try. She made her choice and she isn't going back on it, but she loves her sister and wants to try.

[on_jennys_terms]

"I'm alright." It's one step above her stock answer, but it's still bullcrap. She decides there's no way she can (or wants to) have any kind of continuing conversation without a drink in her hand. She should have thought of this earlier, before she got comfortable on the couch, but things just sort of happened. She unfolds herself and wanders back to the study. Realizing she's been silent a few seconds longer than she should have been, she says, "How are things there?"