The soft breeze tickles my nose as my eyes remain closed and my body sprawled across the soft grass with the sound of horses in the background.
"Kira," I peak an eye open and squint as the sun burns my eyes. Sitting up I heave out a sigh as Jesse slides down next to me. Of course we didn't end up going cliff jumping after my little meltdown, instead we settled on driving a little west of Austin to a farm owned by one of Jesse's family friends.

"I've told you hundred times and I'm going to tell you a hundred more times, we're safe here," Jesse sighs as I meddle with the hem of my white t-shirt.
"I don't give a shit if we're safe, I give a shit about the people who are dying because of me," I whisper out hoarsely.
"Kira," Jesse moves closer to me, "Kira look at me," and I do.
"Your father is a lot of things, but one of the things he isn't is stupid, he wouldn't be stupid enough to kill someone a city over who looks absolutely identical to you. He knows we would've fled, and there's no question that he mistook that girl for you, if he wanted to kill you he would've."
"And did we flee?" I question glaring at him slightly, "Or did we just drive 20 minutes out of the city?"
"He can't get you here, I won't let him," Jesse promises and I clench my jaw tightly stuck in thought.

Finally I decide it's not worth arguing over especially if I know I will lose, so I plop right back down in the grass and stare at the bright blinding sky. Once Jesse sees I'm not going to continue the subject he takes a spot right next to me in the backyard.
"I haven't heard from her in five days Jesse," I close my eyes again as something begins to rip away at my heart.
"I know," Jesse's now facing me and I turn my head to stare at him as he holds a desperate expression in his eyes, "It's ok, once this whole thing is over you'll be able to see her, I promise."

Turning my head back to the sky my eyes are closed once more and I begin to attempt at numbing the pain. I wonder what George would tell me to do right now, or how different my life would be if he were sitting next to me right now. Once more it feels as if a wild beast tears at my heart uncontrollably.

"Jesse, I want to do something," I turn to him and he raises a questioning eyebrow.
"Like?" he asks as a calculative smile graces his lips.
"Something crazy as hell that my mother would never approve of," I nod lightly.
"Want to get a tattoo?"

+++

"I can't believe I'm letting you two do this," Naomi mutters as we enter the tattoo parlor.
"I can't believe you're letting us do this either," Jesse snorts as a sketch catches his eye immediately. Once we presented the idea to John and Naomi John's first instinct was to say yes while Naomi's was to say no. Eventually we got her on board too and offered to Katie and Chris, but apparently the voices in Chris's head were getting louder by the hour and he wanted to wait until his medication kicked before he goes anywhere. John of course wanted to come with us but someone had to stay behind with Chris and Katie and Naomi told him these words exactly, "I'm not letting you go to a tattoo parlor to supervise two teenagers who are illegally getting tattoos in which you'll probably convince one of them to get a tattoo of your face on their forehead."

So it ended up being just Jesse, Naomi, and I in a really fancy looking tattoo parlor with people covered from head to toe in various colors and pictures.
"So what are you thinking?" Jesse asks as I flip through different fonts.
"That's a good question," I laugh slightly as I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to get permanently marked on my body for the rest of my life.

"Probably a word and not a symbol," I think out loud as Jesse peaks over my shoulder at different fonts.
"Hm," Jesse nods as he stares at a certain font, "Wait," he stops me and points to a certain font, "Can I do that one?" he asks the tattoo artist whose been watching us tiredly the whole time.
"Yeah I can do that, what do you want it to say?" he questions gruffly and Jesse gets a distant look in his eyes along with a smile that graces his face.
"Intrépide," Jesse smiles, "Here I'll write it down," and just like that Jesse's on the other side of the room explaining something to the tattoo artist and then writing something else down.

"Intre-what?" I question to myself and Naomi lets out a short laugh from behind me.
"It's Latin, it means fearless," she explains and I nod my head slightly. Latin of course.
"Hey do you know any other words in Latin?" I question and her eyes light up at the request.
"Finally college is paying off," she mutters to herself and then goes on saying multiple tattoo worthy words in Latin.

"I like bellãtor," I smile and she nods with an approving smile.
"Warrior, I like it," she agrees then calls over an artist who was flipping through her phone.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Naomi questions me again and after a moment of hesitation I nod.
"Yeah I do," I confirm and glance at Jesse who's sitting down in a chair now with the inside of his arm facing the ceiling, no doubt that's where he's getting it. His gaze shifts from the needle in the artist's hand to me and he shoots me a quick nervous smile and I return it with just as much, if not more nervousness. I can only imagine how dead he's going to be once his mom sees he's gotten a tattoo.

"Miss, where would you like it?" the artist who's doing my tattoo questions with a bored tone.
"Behind my neck," I answer immediately and know that it's probably going to hurt like hell but in the end it'll be worth it since it's so easy to hide with my hair.
"Alright take a seat," I slide down in the seat nervously as I hear the man prepare his needles. Naomi already took care of our information and ID somehow and even paid for both of us to my surprise to which her excuse was, "You guys got me to go on a free vacation and get paid at the same time, I owe you."

"You ready miss?" the artist questions from behind me as I tighten the bun on my head. I glance over to Naomi who gives me an encouraging smile and I nod slight, "Yeah I'm ready."

+++

"Does this hurt―"
"Ow! Yes John stop!" I exclaim as John quickly removes his finger from the back of my neck.
"I was just wondering, Naomi never let me get a tattoo before," he pouts and turns to glare at Naomi.
"You do realize you're a grown man right and she's only your best friend? Or girlfriend, whatever you two are now," Jesse quirks on eyebrow up as he continues to pick at his bandage that covers up his new tattoo.

John simply shrugs while mumbling a few choice words under his breath and takes another sip of his beer.
"So," Katie starts as she props her feet up on a coffee table, "What's for dinner tonight?"
"Well Jim is out for the night with his wife so I guess it's just up to us what we want," Jesse finally stops picking at his bandage and looks up at us.

"Well I haven't have a proper Texan barbeque in almost 4 years so..." Chris trails off suggestively with raised eyebrows.
"I can stop at the store down the road to get the supplies," Naomi offers.
"And my dad taught me how to make killer steaks," Jesse butts in.
"Don't forget the baked potatoes," I point out and grin at the thought of food as my stomach begins to grumble.

"Well it's settled then, I'll be back in thirty," Naomi grins as she heads out to the van with Katie trailing behind her. Whipping around to the boys I weasel my way through them and head straight for the pantry as I scrummage though Jim's cabinet to find some ingredients for the perfect baked potatoes, and like the Texan he is, I find literally everything for the perfect baked potato.
"Gosh how much do you Texans eat?" John muses as he watches Chris, Jesse, and I all pull out random ingredients.
"A lot," Chris responds and earns a nod from Jesse and I.

"Hey which barbecue sauce looks better?" Jesse questions holding up two bottles.
"Left," I answer immediately.
"No definitely right," Chris argues.
"What are you talking about Baby Rays is the best! Especially for steak," I point out and that's exactly how Chris and I get into a ten minute feud about which sauce is better which ended in John taste testing both and taking my side.

"Fine but make one steak with my kind for me," Chris pouts obviously upset over his loss. After discussing food for another ten minutes I notice how Chris subtly becomes quieter and quieter, by look on Jesse's face, and the nervous glances in his direction it's obvious he caught on to Chris's distancing as well. On the other hand it appears that Chris's change in behavior goes straight over John's head who continues talking about Canadian ham and how we should've went north instead of south on the trip.

"Chris did you take your medication today?" I find myself asking without thinking. I know Chris hates talking about his illness especially in front of his close friends but by the look on his face I don't think he really can tell if my voice is one in his head or in reality. Instead he remains staring at the ground like he has for the past couple minutes, his jaw clenches and unclenches while he squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to block out whatever is speaking to him.

"Chris can you hear me?" I place one hand on his shoulder causing his head to snap up and his feet to move backwards over one another and soon he's collapsed onto the floor.
"Chris!" John calls out and bends down to help him up but before we know it Chris is stumbling back muttering something and shaking his head violently.
"I―I'm going to go lay―lay down," he stutters staring intently into an open space.

"Chris," Jesse speak slowly and kneels right in front of him, "I'm going to help you, you're going to take my arm and I'm going to lead you into the other room ok?" Chris stares at Jesse for what seems like a whole long minute before nodding slowly and staring down at his arm, gripping it, and being led into the other room where we can still watch him.

I watch as Jesse helps my brother onto the couch before Chris simply closes his eyes tightly with his chest heaving up and down in an attempt to get rid of whatever demons are after him. John and I simultaneously glance at each other before our gazes turn back to Chris as Jesse takes a seat next to him to monitor him.
"I don't get it," I whisper loud enough for John to hear.
"Neither do I," John shakes his head sadly before placing a hand on my shoulder and soon he's drawing me into a tight hug.

"He was fine, once he was on the meds he was absolutely fine. They couldn't of stopped working could they?" I whimper into John's chest, "What if we have to go back and this whole trip was for nothing? What if―" I stop. No, he won't turn into my father, he won't believe the people he loves the most are trying to kill him. That just can't happen, and it won't happen.
"We'll work it out Kira, we'll work it out," John rubs my back gently and I sniffle.

"You know," I mutter, "That's exactly what George would say."