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“Nice to see you, too, Jordan,” the guy stated sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he shook his head. Jordan walked right past him, toward the truck.

“Oh, Dane, how I missed you! Did Uncle Kyle take good care of you?” Jordan asked in a small, babyish voice as she rubbed her hand in circles over the shiny red hood.

“Hi, I’m Kyle,” the guy stuck out his hand to each of us as Jordan laid her cheek on the hood of the truck.

“Okay, Kyle, riddle me this: why is she getting all lovey dovey with the truck?” AJ questioned with a smirk and cocked eyebrow.

“Because, that’s Dane…it’s her baby,” he rolled his eyes again and tossed the keys to Jordan, who easily caught them.

“Dane, her baby, is the truck?” I raised an eyebrow. To be honest, I was a bit relieved that she wasn’t referring to the guy. Okay, I wasn’t a bit relieved…I actually felt like jumping for joy and I was, honestly, having a hard time containing my happiness.

“He’s not JUST a truck,” she straightened back up to look at us.

“Oh shit, here we go,” Kyle sighed and shook his head. Jordan visibly took a deep breath.

“He’s a 2007 Chevy Sivlerado 3500 LTZ 1LZ, 4WD extended cab, long box,” Jordan rattled off as Kyle groaned. Brian, AJ and I had our jaws on the ground as she continued, “he has a Vortec 6.0L Variable Valve Timing V8 SFI engine; a 6-speed automatic, heavy-duty, electronically controlled transmission with overdrive and tow slash haul mode; and a heavy-duty, automatic, locking rear differential. I’ll spare you the interior and stereo details. But at any rate, he’s not just a truck…he’s my boyfriend.”

“She’s only slightly obsessed with her truck,” explained Kyle with an annoyed chuckle.

“Is it just me, or did she totally just sound like a dude?” AJ looked around at each of us. I just shrugged.

“She does that quite often, actually.” Kyle nodded with a laugh.

“I thought only guys named and dated their vehicles,” Brian chuckled.

“Yes, under normal circumstances, it’s usually only men who decide to name and start dating their vehicles.”

“I’m not obsessed, Kyle. He takes good care of me and I take good care of him…it’s the perfect relationship! Now, quit making fun of me and get in.”

“What about a boyfriend, of the human persuasion, do you have one of those?” AJ asked as we all climbed up into the truck.

“Nope.”

“She hasn’t had one of those in a looooooooong time,” Kyle stated.

“Shut up, it hasn’t been that long. I’ve dated, I just haven’t been into any relationships,” she explained in more detail.

“Oh. So, why did you name it Dane?” Boy, wasn’t AJ just full of questions? But, I wasn’t upset to, officially, hear that her truck was the only ‘boyfriend’.

“Because, I already used Nick, AJ, Brian, Howie, Kevin and Bruce Willis. So naturally, Dane was the next best thing.” She smiled as she pulled out of the small parking lot.

“Do I dare ask what you named after us?” I asked, never taking my eyes off her. She looked at me through her rearview mirror.

“My fish.”

“You named your fish after us?!?” Brian chuckled with a raised eyebrow.

“Yessiree, I have four huge goldfish and a flesh eating piranha!”

“Um…Jordy?”

“Yes, Kyle?”

“Uh…I don’t know how to tell you this…”

“You killed one of them didn’t you! Who was it?!?” Her eyes widened as she glanced at him, waiting for an answer.

“The piranha.” He answered softly with his head bowed.

“YOU KILLED HOWIE!!!!” she screamed at him. She looked like she was ready to kill him. Almost missing the exit, she reached over to slap him on the arm.

“Whoa, wait a sec! You have four goldfish and a piranha; and you name the piranha after Howie? I’m confused, how’d I get stuck being a goldfish?” AJ scoffed in disbelief. Brian and I looked at each other, wondering the same thing.

“It seemed to be the most obvious. I mean it’s always the quiet ones that you have to look out for, besides, Howie is the most exotic out of the group,” she shrugged, continuing to give Kyle the death stare.

“I would have figured Kevin to be the most obvious. He’s the one always chewing my head off,” I snickered. She pulled into a large parking deck, paid her toll, and found a parking spot.

“Anyways,” Brian cut back in, “what did you name after Bruce Willis?”

“My parrot.”

“You have a parrot? Cool!” AJ smiled as we climbed out of her truck.

“Yep, he’s a really pretty bird.”

“Tell them WHY you named it Bruce Willis,” Kyle snickered as we headed to the parking deck’s elevator.

“I needed a valid excuse to teach it to say, ‘yippie ciyay mother fucker!’.” She grinned widely as we stepped into the elevator.

“NICE!” AJ nodded his approval.

“I’m a Die Hard junkie, what can I say?” she shrugged. The elevator came to a stop. We piled off and followed Jordan through a short corridor. A set of automatic doors opened, granting us entry to the large building. Jordan and Kyle showed their employee ID’s or whatever to the security guard and we continued into the lobby.

“JORDAAAAAAAAAAAN!” a chubby blonde came bounding towards us.

“Hi, Stacey,” Jordan gave the woman a quick hug before continuing on, with us following closely. She received a lot of high fives, brief hugs, and ‘hello’s as we made our way through the lobby and down the hall.

“Glad to see you back, Jo,” a tall dark haired man pulled her into a hug. The hug lasted a little long for my comfort as she made small talk with him for a moment. I felt a pang in my stomach when he kissed her cheek. Brian, AJ, Jordan, Kyle and I all boarded another elevator and headed up.

“See ya later, Jordy,” Kyle gave her a tight hug as he exited the elevator on the 3rd floor.

“Bye, Ky.”

“O hey,” he stuck his hand between the doors to stop them from closing. “Dad said to make sure you call him, when you get home tonight.”

“Uh,” she rolled her eyes, “How’d I know that was coming?”

“Just do it.” He called as the elevator doors closed.

“Is he…” I trailed off, not knowing if it was rude to ask what I was thinking.

“My brother? Yes. There are six of us and I’m the only girl.”

“That must suck,” AJ snorted.

“Well, not really. Mom wasn’t around,” she shrugged her shoulders, “so, I guess, that explains why I act, and sound, like a guy most of the time.”

“Hey, on the bright side,” AJ slinked his arm around her waist, “at least you don’t look like a guy.” I just about exploded when I saw him wiggling his eyebrows at her. How dare he flirt with her?!? In front of me, no less!

“Yeah, well, anyways,” she changed the subject and stepped away from AJ. “We’re to our floor.” Getting off the elevator, I glared at AJ, letting him know that I wasn’t happy with him. All he did was smirk and wink at me, before catching up with Jordan.

“He’s trying to provoke you, ya know,” Brian whispered as I watched AJ and Jordan, a few feet ahead of me and Brian.

“Yeah, well, I’m not taking it too kindly,” I sighed. She had stopped at one of the desks and was flipping through the files that she was handed.

“He’s trying to get you to step up, Nick. You know how he is.”

“Yeah, he’s a jerk.” I scowled as I saw him lean over and tuck a piece of her hair, behind her ear. “What a fucking flirt! Can’t he keep his hands to himself?”

“Do something about it,” Brian instructed, simply. “You don’t want his hands on her…you have to do something to stop it.”

“Like what, Brian?” I asked, chewing my bottom lip. AJ was really pushing my buttons as he laid his hand on the small of her back.

“Claim her.”

“She’s my wife, for god sake,” I retorted. My eyes narrowed as I walked up to where they were standing. “Excuse me, AJ, but you’ve got your hands on my wife.”

“Oh, sorry Nick, I forgot,” he smirked.

“Yeah, whatever, just back off.”

“Good grief boys,” Jordan turned, with a stack of files and papers in her arms.

“Here, let me get those,” I stepped forward and took the stack from her.

“Thanks,” she smiled sweetly at me. “Let’s take those to my office, and then I need to take you three to see someone.” We followed her down a separate hall. She showed us her office and told me to set the pile of stuff on her desk.

“Who are we going to see?” I asked as we got onto the elevator, again.

“A psycho therapist,” she giggled. “Since you guys have been through a lot of mental and emotional stress, lately, we’re having you guys evaluated to make sure you aren’t suffering from any post traumatic stress or anything. It should be fairly quick and painless.”

“I’ve seen enough therapists in my life, can I duck out of this?” AJ raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, but no.”

“Samuel D. Harris? Is he…” I looked over at her with furrowed eyebrows.

“Another brother? Yep. But, he’s the only other one in the CIA,” she laughed. “Well, Kyle’s not really in the CIA, but that’s not important, right now.” She pushed open the door and was almost toppled over by a middle aged man.

“How’s my baby sister?” he asked as he squeezed her tightly.

“I’m just fine,” she rolled her eyes but hugged him back, “except the fact that I can’t breathe too well, right now.”

“Have you talked to the others?”

“Kyle? Yes. But no one else.” She motioned for us guys to sit down in the leather chairs, along the wall.

“We’ve been worried about the baby of the family.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she sighed and turned to face us. “Sammy will speak with each of you separately and give me a call when you are all finished. I’ll come to get you guys, then, okay?” We all nodded our understanding and she disappeared out the door. Brian went in first, then AJ…they took about an hour, each. The other room must be sound proof because I couldn’t hear a thing.

“Okay, Mr. Carter, you’re up,” the older man smiled as he held the door open for me. My nerves were kicking in. I wasn’t looking forward to being questioned…evaluated or whatever by Jordan’s older brother. What if he didn’t like me? Would he tell her what I said in there? I drew in a long, deep breath. This should be interesting.