"This annoys me to no end."

"You don't have to go get involved in whatever it is now."

"No, I don't have to."

She sighs again. "Yeah."

Sigh. Kiss. "If we don't see each other before this evening be at my room at nine, pet."

Kiss. "Yes, ma'am. I love you." And she gets up.

Jackson doesn't notice her approach.

She sits. "Good morning, Jackson."

He jumps in his chair and spills hot cocoa on his hand. "Shit, ow - hi."

"Ow, are you alright?" she says, looking around for a napkin or something.

"'m fine." There's a napkin. He accepts it when she hands it to him and wipes his hand off.

"Okay, good. How'd the holiday go?"

"That was about the least convincing way you could've said this," she points out.

Jackson looks at his scrambled eggs. He wraps his hands around his mug of cocoa.

"What happened?"

Squirm.

"I'm fine," he mumbles again.

"No, Jackson, you're not," she sighs.

"I don't know what else I was supposed to do, is all."

"What happened?" she repeats, more gently this time.