For some reason, this chapter seems really short, yet it's longer than most chapters I write. :/ 

I apologize that this took so long. My week has sort of blurred together, and for some reason, I still feel like today is Sunday. 

Anyways, enjoy and don't forget to comment. ^_^

Ely:

The nurse left the apartment after letting us know that he'd be back next week to check on his patient. Moments later, I heard Shawn opening the door and coming in. J was lying on the couch and Dominic was still in the chair he'd been sitting in earlier.

Shawn hadn't bothered taking off his jacket or shoes. He dropped onto the coffee table and sighed. "How are you doing, J? Do you need anything?"

Jordan pulled himself up so that he was sitting, "I don't need to be babied..." He started to say.

Shawn interrupted him, "I'm not babying you. I passed the nurse on his way out of the apartment. He said you need to be careful for the next week. I refuse to let you have a setback simply because your pride wouldn't allow someone else to help you for a while."

Jordan groaned, "Fine. I could use something to drink."

Shawn nodded, "Dom." He nodded towards the kitchen, indicating that Dominic should go get the drink.

Dominic rolled his eyes as he stood up. "What would you like to drink?" He asked on his way to the kitchen.

Jordan shrugged, "Surprise me."

I seemed to have been the only one paying attention to Dom, so I was the only one who noticed the grin he shot Jordan, and I was suddenly worried about what sort of drink he'd bring back.

Shawn leaned back on his hands and rolled his shoulders, stretching and flexing them. "Once Dom comes back, we'll discuss the meeting I was just at."

It didn't take Dom long to come back with the drink. He handed it to Jordan, and then took a couple of steps back. Jordan glanced at him suspiciously before he sniffed at his drink and frowned. "What did you do to it?" He demanded.

Dom's lips quirked up in a semi-smile as he replied, "I got you a surprise. It's what you wanted."

Jordan quirked an eyebrow at him, but then took a cautious sip of the drink. He sat up quickly and gasped, "Fucking hell. What the fuck did you do to it?! What is this?"

Dom chuckled, "A little bit of everything. Except coffee. I didn't put any coffee in it."

Shawn quickly reached back and smacked Dom's thigh, "Go get him something edible."

Dom grabbed the drink, muttering something about being ungrateful, but went into the kitchen. "Do you have a preference now?" He asked loudly.

"Water. Just water. Nothing else." Jordan replied from the couch.

Once Jordan had his glass of water and Dominic was situated, Shawn cleared his throat. "Our team has been officially benched, which we already knew would happen. We've been added to the chore roster in the main office, and starting tomorrow, we'll be expected to report to the area we've been given for whatever chore we have. J, you won't be on the roster until at least next week. Your job will be to heal and to make sure those stitches stay put. I don't want us out longer than necessary."

Jordan nodded in understanding as he shifted on the couch. Dom suddenly spoke up, asking, "What sorts of chores are we going to have?"

Shawn shrugged, "I'm not sure, but we'll do what we have to to get back onto active duty. Now, I need reports from J and Ely about what happened today."

I glanced at Jordan curiously, but he was drinking his water in huge gulps. I briefly explained what had happened, excluding the kiss. I didn't really think that part mattered.

Shawn smiled, "Thanks. I'll get the reports written up and handed in this evening so that someone else can take over where we left off."

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

I yawned as I sat up in bed. I absolutely hated mornings. My bed was so warm and comfy, I simply didn't want to leave it. I got up anyways, noting that Shawn and Jordan were still in bed. Listening to my surroundings told me that Dom was in the kitchen, so I quickly gathered my clothes and dashed into the bathroom, being as quiet as I could.

Once I was dressed, I quietly moved out to the living room. Dominic was sitting on the couch. His dark blue shirt was buttoned all the way, and his dark jeans showcased the muscles in his thighs. I blushed when I realized the turn my thoughts had taken. He brushed his cowboy hat back slightly as he stood up. "Let's go downstairs. We can get breakfast in the cafeteria and then go look in the office to see if they have our names up yet. I want to let Shawn sleep as long as he can. He was up really late last night, filling out reports and paperwork."

My eyes widened, "Should we leave a note?" I asked. I didn't want anyone worrying because we weren't here.

Dom smiled, "Already taken care of, Kit. I posted it when I heard the shower shut off and

the guys still hadn't stirred. If we hurry, we can bring breakfast with us on our way back."

I hurried after him as he strode out the door, grabbing my sweatshirt on the way out.

The noise in the cafeteria was deafening. We stepped into the room, and the noise was

so overwhelming I had to take a step back and nearly tripped over Dom. He placed a steadying hand on my shoulder and gently pulled me back out of the room. "Let's go check the office first. If it's still this... rambunctious in here, we'll take food back to our place."

I nodded in agreement. I had never heard so much noise in the cafeteria before and vaguely wondered why there were so many people in there now. He took my hand and led me away from the cafeteria and towards the main office. Fifteen minutes later, we stepped into a large office building. I rubbed my hands together, trying to get the blood flowing to my fingertips again, and I couldn't stop the sneeze that escaped. The smell of coffee was heavy in the air and my nose wrinkled slightly.

Dominic chuckled and led me towards the computer roster. "It smells like someone decided the scent of coffee would make a good air freshener." I nodded in agreement as Dom typed in our names on the computer.

I stood on my toes as I watched what he was doing. He gave a soft groan, "I get to help in the kitchens. Luckily, that's a job that gets rotated frequently." He muttered, mostly to himself.

A quick search for Shawn's name and I giggled. "I can't picture him doing that."

Dom chuckled deeply, "Me either, but it's another rotation job."

"Aren't all the jobs rotation jobs?" I asked. I felt a little confused, because it wouldn't really make sense to have anyone do the same job for too long.

He shook his head, "A couple of them don't rotate..." He paused for a moment as he searched for my name. "Like yours... yours is permanent."

My eyes flew to the screen as my mouth felt dry. I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of a permanent job. "Kennels? Like working with the dogs?" I asked. I knew we kept various animals on the base, and a lot of the dogs were trained as guard dogs or tracking dogs. They were trained for something that would be useful to our training.

"Looks like it, Kitten." He chuckled deeply, as if amused. "It's slightly ironic that Kitten will be working with the dogs." He gently tugged at my hand as we started to leave the building.

"But we didn't check to see if J's name was up." I murmured, ignoring his amusement at the nickname he'd given me.

"His name won't be up until he's cleared for light duty, and then he'll probably be doing something easy, like shuffling papers, for a few weeks." He explained.

His explanation made sense, so I simply followed him back to the cafeteria, which seemed to have quieted down.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

After we sat down with our breakfast, Dom reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Yeah? What's up?" He answered. He listened for a moment and then said, "Yeah. We're just eating breakfast, and then we'll bring you and J something to eat. We also checked to see what your job was for now." Another pause. "Yeah, we'll talk when we get back to the apartment."

"What did Shawn want?" I asked as I bit into my omelet.

"He just wanted to see where we were. Hurry and eat your food, Kit. I think Shawn is uncomfortable with us having been gone so long." He said with a chuckle.

I smiled and took another bite as Dom started eating. I stopped to look at him fully when I realized how quickly he was shoveling food into his mouth. "Slow down a little." I murmured as I took another bite.

He paused and held his fork at a different angle, positioning his wrist in front of his mouth, "We're in a hurry, Kit." He mumbled.

"Just because we're in a hurry doesn't mean we have to eat our food without tasting it." I replied.

He rolled his eyes at me and I shot him a stern look. "Sorry, Kit. You don't pull that look off very well." He voice was laced with amusement as he went back to eating.

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