And Then She Was Gone

Don't Make Me Change My Mind

Jason gave his father an appreciative look as he placed a deep poured glass of scotch on the table before him, before he took his own seat. The women had their own glasses of red wine poured, and everyone's plate was filled with a hearty helping of lasagna with a side of garden salad.

The Alpha was rather muted, while the women chatted back and forth between bites of food, Catherine, sharing pack gossip and Elizabeth thoroughly enjoying the word, even though she didn't know much of anyone who was being discussed.

Jason heavily focused on his drink as opposed to eating, leaving the table to get a refill, he with double the amount of his first pour before anyone else really even made a dent in their glasses. Adolphus was keenly watching him with his brown eyes, and had taken note of Jason's bloodshot eyes and withdrawn demeanor.

"So what did you do today?" Elizabeth said to Jason after the gossip flow began to run dry, looking over to him sitting next to her as his fork was prodding into some lettuce idly.

His head snapped over to the realization of her attention now being on him and it brought him out of his thoughts. "Just pack stuff." he vaguely replied with a shrug. "It never ends."

"That it doesn't." Adolphus said with a huff, clearly showing he didn't miss it.

"What did you do today?" he asked back, having a markedly higher interest in her day.

"I read a little, helped your mom in the garden, played with the phone you gave me... I helped make the lasagna." she said looking down at his plate and noticing he didn't really touch it. "You don't like it?"

"No, it's really good." he said earnestly with a nod.

"You haven't tried it..." she said her eyes looking back to the plate and then back to him.

"Well, it smells good." he quickly replied. "I just had a late lunch and I'm really not hungry." he said giving a rapid explanation so as to not hurt her feelings due to his lack of desire to eat.

"Oh... What did you have?" she asked back, attempting to create conversation with him as she also noticed his silence at the table and found it a bit unnerving.

"I can't remember, but it wasn't very good." he said with a shake of his head and taking another deep sip of his scotch. "I would have much rather had this." he said with a nod towards the plate.

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest." her eyes taking in the clear fatigue he was wearing on his face.

"It's not time to leave yet." he said back quickly.

"But you look so tired, you should probably get some sleep. It's not like you won't be back tomorrow." she said softly as she gave him the mild suggestion.

"No." he said slamming his free hand down on the table and his tone growing in volume while sinking in depth. "I'm staying until nine, and then I will go home and sleep." a clear irritation lining his voice.

Elizabeth's body jumped lightly at the resounding sound of his hand hitting the table, and she shrunk to the side a bit with his newly adopted tone. "It was just a sugges-" her voice was quiet.

"I'm staying." he said firmly as his jaw tensed and his eyes started to darken, growing further annoyed and taking another sip of the scotch as he looked away from her.

"Jason, you're running low. Lets get a refill." Adolphus said standing from his seat, jumping into action before Catherine could even open her mouth and make the situation worse. "Come on." he said with his head nodding towards the door. "The good stuff is in the study."