The Family Mission

Chapter 15

"Letti.. Letti, wake up."

Scarlett awoke with a jerk. She peeked at Juila from the corner of her eye, glad to find her still sleeping. She then looked up at the person woke her up.

"Jake, what do you want?" Scarlett asked groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's just," Jake started, biting his lip as he thought about what he was going to say next.

"Look," Scarlett said quickly, looking at Jake with bloodshot eyes.

"I'm pretty sure you know that I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in forever. I know you're worried about me, but-"

"What? No!" Jake interrupted, quickly clearing his throat. "I mean, I am worried about you. But, that's not why I woke you up."

"Oh." Scarlett muttered, pushing her arms underneath her in order to sit up.

"Well, I'm up. What's going on?"

"I.. Uhm.." Jake started, his tone revealing he was nervous about what he was going to say.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she placed both her hands on Jake's shoulders, making him look her in the eyes.

"Look. Jake, I love you," Scarlett started, causing Jake to give her a look that said: I know, but what does that have to do with anything? Scarlett shrugged off his look, and continued.

"But I am really tired right now. So, I'm begging you, please spit it out."

She pleaded, causing Jake to sigh.
"I know this is probably stupid, but I need to know.." Jake started, motioning to the bed.

Scarlett carefully moved as to not awake Juila, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to give Jake more room.

Once he sat down, Scarlett rested her elbow on her knee, setting her chin in the palm of her hand and looking lazily at Jake, who was still mulling over his word choice.

"I know you're tired, so I'll make this quick." Jake started, making Scarlett hold back a groan as she motioned for him to go on with her other hand.

"Hun, I need you to hurry up, I'm this close to falling asle-"

"Have you noticed anyone acting.. weird after Samantha's death?"

Scarlett furrowed her eyebrows, pursing her lips in thought.

"You mean, do I know of any potential suspects?"

"Uhm, yeah, I guess." Jake responded. "That makes more sense."

Scarlett chuckled dryly. "Yeah.." She had trailed off, still thinking about what Jake had said.

She saw him looking at her through the corner of her eye. He was looking at her expectedly, waiting for her answer.

After a few moments, Scarlett simply shook her head.

"I don't think so, Jake. Everyone was really understanding, actually. And sympathetic." Scarlett concluded.

"Ah.. of course." Jake mumbled. "I guess it was stupid."

"Why'd you ask, anyways?" Scarlett wondered aloud. Having officially woken up, her curiosity was unmatched.

"I just.. I don't know.. Just wanted to see if we could find a lead."

"You watch too much TV." Scarlett joked, causing Jake to let out a tiny snicker.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Jake agreed, chuckling with Scarlett.

"What the hell?"

Jake and Scarlett turned around at the same time, to find Juila staring up at them with half-lidded eyes.