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"When I wasn't the one knocked on my ass," Tor said gently. "Look, if 'Lissa had called us up and said, 'Hey Jake, would you and Tor take care of my boy if something happened to me?', what

would you have said?"

Jake looked out the window. "Would've talked to you."

"Yeah. And then, after we'd talked about it?"

"Don't know, do I? Don't know what you would have said."

"Now you're just being stubborn. What would you have said, Jake?"

Jake looked out the window and wondered again where they were. Then he shrugged one shoulder

and sighed. "Yes. I would have told her that we'd take him."

"There you go."

And there they were.

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The Storm

Jake's head was fuzzy by the time the plane landed. He'd resisted sleep and he felt like he'd been

putting up hay for weeks, but with the added bonus of being an emotional mess. His hand shook as

he picked up his bag, and he was glad it hadn't been that bad on the plane. Or maybe it had been

and he hadn't noticed.

They walked through the arrivals terminal slowly, pacing themselves until the crowd thinned out a

little. "Should we take a taxi or rent a car?" Jake asked as they approached the exit and the car rental kiosks.

"Already have one reserved," Tor said, pointing to a booth. "You'll be here for a bit, need something to drive."

Jake nodded then blinked slowly and stopped walking. "When did you do that?"

Tor took an extra couple of steps before he seemed to realize Jake wasn't with him. Turning, he

reached for Jake's hand again and said, "I called the airlines. Packed. Talked to Elias. When you

were checking to make sure you had enough clothes in your bag, I called and reserved a car."

"Oh. Thanks." Jake wasn't sure what the appropriate level of gratitude was for that sort of thing, but he was pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to make him want to cry. "I should have slept," he said stupidly, wondering if he was blinking too much or too little.

Tor's brow furrowed briefly. "Yeah, we both should have. Come on, let's get this done and get out

of here, at least. Find some coffee."

Jake nodded and they stepped to the booth, where he tried to pay attention and be polite to the lady

working there. He followed along with the basics, but by the end of it Tor had to prompt him to

pass over the credit card and point out where to sign. The lady looked concerned and more than a

little suspicious.

Tor leaned over the desk slightly. "Better sign me on as a second driver."

"It'll cost more." She reached for another form and tilted her head slightly, making her hair sway gently. "But I think you're right."

It took only a few moments to do up the extra paperwork and then she passed the keys to Tor. "It's 15

Natural Disaster

in the first row; the tag number's at the top of the page."

Jake felt about five years old as Tor led the way to where the rentals were parked. It only took them

a moment to find the car, a roomy sedan, and to throw their bags in the back, but Jake didn't get in

right away. Now that they were there, so close to being with Cath, he didn't know if he could face

it.

Any of it.

"I don't want this to be real," he whispered.

"Get in the car, Taggart," Tor said from the driver's side, and Jake had no idea if he'd heard or not.

Jake shook his head and opened the door, falling into the seat and closing his eyes. He waited while

Tor got in and slammed his own door, the car vibrating from the uneasy impact. The silence

stretched out for too long, making him turn his head and open his eyes. Tor was looking at him, and

suddenly Jake could see the burdens Tor was carrying. The dark smudges under his eyes, the slump

in Tor's shoulders, and the careful stillness; they drew Jake even closer to his breaking point.

"I …-" He had no idea what to say.

"Got a choice here, Jake," Tor said gently. "We can go to the house right now, or we can find somewhere and get a room. Sleep first. Now, it ain't going to be easy, either way. You know that.

It's going to be rough, hardest, when you first see them. Do you want to fill your tank first, or do

you want to just go now?"

Jake tried to think about it, tried hard, but all he could bring to mind was that his sister and his

nephew were dealing with the details alone, and that they were hurting by themselves. That he was

hurting in a way he'd never felt before. That he was more scared of seeing them and making it real

than he'd been scared of anything else in his life, maybe.

"I don't… Jesus." He rubbed his eyes and leaned back. "I need to be there, Tor. Take me to Jacob, let me hold my sister. Then we'll sleep. At least we'll be under the same roof." The car started and Jake left his eyes closed, feeling them burn. "Was it…when your mom passed, was it so confusing?"

There was only the sound of the engine and then the click of the signal light for a few moments.

"It wasn't…it was bad, yeah. But we knew it was going to happen." Tor sighed. "The arrangements had been in place, so there wasn't this kind of rush, you know? It hurt like fuck, and we were lost,

but we knew what was going on."

Jake nodded, not knowing if Tor saw.

"There's going to be some other things we have to talk to Cath about right away," Tor said, and Jake could hear an unexpected edge to his voice.

"Like what?"

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"Like we're going to have to talk to the lawyer damn soon, and it might be a good idea not to let

anyone know that you weren't aware 'Lissa was naming you guardian. Could cause trouble."

Jake hadn't really thought of that, not from an outsider's point of view. Cath had said something,

but he'd mostly been in shock. "Yeah," he agreed slowly. "We should talk to someone on our own."

Tor cleared his throat. "I… um, I called Becket. To find out if he can act, here in Texas."

Jake opened his eyes and stared at Tor. "You were busy."

Tor shrugged and looked faintly embarrassed. "It was just a thought."

"And?"

"And he can, but he gave me a number for someone local, if we need help fast."

"Why would we? I mean, do you think we will?"

Tor looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Depends on if your brother James knows yet."

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Cath looked like hell, Jake thought. She'd cut her hair since he'd last seen her, and he could only

assume that under other circumstances the short blonde bob would look cute, and not so… wild. He

and Tor walked into the small house that less than a day ago had been 'Lissa's home and stood in

the kitchen, looking around them.

"You look like shit," Cath said bluntly, peering up at him. "Both of you." Then she leaned past Jake and tilted her head up to kiss Tor's cheek. "Did you sleep at all?" she asked, wrapping her arms around Jake's waist and hugging him.

"No," Jake murmured into her hair. "Did you?"

She nodded against his chest and pulled back. "A few hours, anyway. Come on in and sit before

you fall down. Coffee?"

"Yeah. Thanks." He pulled out a chair at the table and more or less fell into it, steadied by Tor's hand before Tor seated himself next to him. "Where's Jacob?"

Cath nodded her head toward the short hallway and poured coffee into three mugs. "In his room.

He was sleeping when I checked on him about fifteen minutes ago. The doctors said that the con-

cussion was better, good enough to let him sleep if he needed to. Honestly, I'm glad he is; it's going

to be a horrible few days."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just sipping coffee. Jake had no idea what to do next, and Tor

hadn't said a word other than his thank you for the coffee. Cath looked worn out, and she kept look-

ing at the phone on the table next to her as if she expected it to come alive.

"How are you doing?" Jake asked seriously. He wondered suddenly and absurdly why he was keep-

ing his voice so low, why it just seemed the thing to do. Like he was talking to a skittish horse.

Cath looked up and met his eyes, her slight flicker of a smile forced and uncomfortable looking.

"I'm holding it together. I have to. But eventually… it's gonna all hit me. I haven't stopped to think since they called me at work, and right now I'm just trying to keep busy, keep it away until after the

funeral."

Jake could only nod at that; he'd been trying not to think for what felt like days. "What can I do?

Make some calls, deal with the florists or something like that?"

Tor cleared his throat and they both looked at him, startled.

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He looked faintly embarrassed again. "I don't mean to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong--"

Cath rolled her eyes as Jake snorted. "You're family now, Tor. That's your job," she assured him.

Tor acknowledged that with a duck of his head. "Yeah, well. Thing is, I think that it might be a

good idea for the two of you--the three of us--to talk about… damn." Tor took a deep breath and

looked at Cath. "You talk to James yet?"

Cath sighed. "James. Shit." She shook her head and leaned back in her chair, her hands wrapped around her coffee cup. "I called the last number I had for him, but it was a disconnect. He hasn't called me, so I don't know if Aunt Jess managed to reach him or not. Our wayward brother might

be trying to stay wayward, if you know what I mean."

Jake closed his eyes. Oh, this was going to be hell in every way it could be. "Jess. She knows I'm alive?" He wasn't sure how many people still believed his mother's decades old lies; he wasn't even sure if he didn't want some people to just go on thinking he was gone.

He opened his eyes to see Cath wincing. "Oh, yeah. 'Lissa told her and the others when she found

you. That's how James found out, you know. By then, I hadn't heard from him in almost eighteen

months, and he and 'Lissa hadn't spoken in about four years."

Tor snorted. "Did the rest of the family take it as well as James?"

Cath shrugged. "Jess didn't say much, just rambled about bad pennies. She didn't seem to care that she was the reason Jake ran in the first place, that it was her telling tales that got Momma to even

say Jake died. James… well, James kept quiet after y'all tossed him off the ranch, but when he

started in on Jacob… 'Lissa flipped out on him, you know? He's been warned off; he's not supposed

to have any contact with Jacob."

"Legally?" Tor asked immediately.

"No," Cath said with another head shake. "Just by the wrath of a pissed-off sister. As far as I know, James hasn't tried to call Jacob since 'Lissa found out he was trying to turn Jacob away from you

two. Jacob swears James hasn't called, and that he wouldn't listen anyway." She smiled at Jake

then, the first real smile he'd seen since they'd walked into the house. "He's gone on you both. He told me once that James had to be wrong about God hating you, because you need all the love you

can get, what with people that don't even know you hating you. That's God's job, he says. To love

people who need it most."

Jake smiled and looked over at Tor. "He's a smart kid."

"Yeah," Tor said with a quick nod. He bit his lip and turned his coffee cup around twice before picking it up and draining it. "But still. We better get some legal stuff done soon as we can. And Cath--tell us what we can do to help you out, right?"

Cath nodded. "So, you're gonna take him, then? You've talked about it?"

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"Yeah," Jake said, taking Tor's hand. "We're going to do what he needs. What we need."

"Good." Cath stood up and took her cup to the sink. "I'm glad for you, you know. Really glad. And I'll help as much as I can." She turned around to face them, studying them with a critical eye.

"Right now, though, I think you both need to sleep, for a few hours at least. Then we can talk

more."

"Does Jacob know?" Jake asked as he stood up.

She shook her head. "I didn't want to say anything, given that you were… well, clueless. Didn't

know what you would decide. And he hasn't asked."

"Okay." Jake looked around and picked up Tor's bag, handing it to him as he picked up his own.

"Where do we sleep?"

The phone at Cath's elbow rang, a short, two-ring tone. "Got my home phone on forward," Cath

said, reaching for the receiver. "You're in the guest room, is that okay?"

"No problem," Jake assured her, leading the way to the cheerful yellow room he and Tor had used on their only other visit there. Behind him, he could hear Cath start talking to someone she called

Mary, saying that yes, it was a shock. He resolved to take over the phone as soon as he'd rested a

bit. Cath shouldn't have to do that over and over again.

He and Tor had just put their bags down when the door opposite theirs opened. A slender figure

was framed there, one arm in a cast and his hair sticking up in ragged tufts. "Uncle Jake?"

Jake put his plans for sleep on hold and paused only long enough to squeeze Tor's shoulder before

moving forward, hoping to hell he had the strength to manage this. "Hey, Jacob."

Jake had only a moment or two to marvel at how tall Jacob had gotten in the past few months;

'Lissa had said that the boy was going through a growth spurt, but Lord, he must have shot up two

inches. He looked gangly and awkward standing in the doorway, like his limbs didn't quite fit yet,

which Jake vaguely remembered it actually felt like. The bright blue cast didn't help much.

"When did you get here?" Jacob asked, glancing past Jake into the room. "Hey, Uncle Tor."

"Hey, kid," Tor said, flopping onto the bed still dressed.