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"I bet if you talk to Life division you could get a replacement," Jordan suggested. "If you want to, anyway." He quietly offered his scarf in lieu of a tissue.

His eyebrows arched at the admission that she'd noticed; not that it was that hard to see, not if you were paying attention, but he hadn't quite expected Ofie to catch it. "I do like him," he answered. "That's part of why I'd like to help smooth things over, if I can." He hugged Ofie gently. "You're a friend, and I don't want you to get hurt, physically or otherwise. I don't want to sound like I'm scolding you, either. You know?"

"Well, I know you're not useless. You're a Sun," Jordan said lightly, and held Ofelia gently while she cried on his shirt. "And you're stubborn enough to stick it out. None of us are perfect," he said more seriously. "Everyone's got things that hurt them, things they're not proud of, things they wish they could do better. Hunters - well, we've been told we're the crazy ones all our lives, that can do weird things to your head."

I object to being called weird.

No, you're just my personal crazy. Jordan exchanged a quiet brush of affection with Ferros, then went on, "It's a huge adjustment when you've only been awake a few months, and now we've all been stuck in too small a space with no privacy after the biggest mission any of us might ever go on. Things will get better again once we've all got some space to breathe and wind down, I think."

"It's okay," Jordan said quietly. "Does it help you cope? I miss my family too."

He didn't say anything to her outburst, just keeping his arm around her shoulders and letting her calm down on her own time.

"It makes things harder when nobody believes you," Jordan said. "I was lucky. My brother saw them too, so I had some kind of idea that maybe I wasn't totally crazy."

He smiled a little at her, a worried kind of smile. "They're helping you," he pointed out. "Everyone's got to let some of that pressure out once in a while. It's kind of like having a cavity. If you ignore it, it'll just sit there and eat away at the tooth and hurt worse, but if you get it drilled, it'll hurt for a little while and then feel better."

"Home, huh," he said thoughtfully. "Well, before I came here, I was at college, but since my Tia - uh, that's aunt in Spanish, if you didn't know - since my Tia lived in the same town and Andy and I lived with her and our cousins, I was back every weekend. By the time I was in college, our oldest cousin, that was Jessica, she'd graduated, but she was right down the block; Amy and Katie were still at home, and they always complained when I came back for the weekend because someone had to share their bedroom, but that was joke-complaining because I shared with Andy." He smiled wistfully, eyes unfocused, looking off into his memories. "Kid would've been off to college himself this year. He was gonna go to art school. Working on his portfolio and everything." He sighed. "Anyway, when I got back, the dogs would always bark at me nonstop for five minutes and then suddenly remember that they knew who I was and then they'd be stuck to me like stupid little fuzzy burrs the whole rest of the visit. I don't know why they liked me so much. They were Tia Rosa's babies, it wasn't like I fed them or anything, but they loved me. I kind of miss the little fuzzballs."

He leaned his head against the side of the bunk. "Man, I bet Amy got my car. That thing's a piece of junk, I hope it's not costing her too much in repairs. She better not be driving that old clunker up to San Francisco, it eats gas like no tomorrow. It's cheaper to take the bus."

"Family's important to me," Jordan said quietly. "I hope Tia Rosa and my cousins didn't grieve too long. It's better than if they thought I had just left, though." He fell silent, absently stroking Ofelia's hair.

Finally, he said, "I've made my own family here, in a way. I need people." He laughed a little, sadly. "I always thought I was pretty independent. Self-reliant. I was wrong. Maybe that's okay." He looked down at Ofie, seeing her and his cousins and his brother all at once in a kind of overlap, the instinct to protect and comfort recognized at last for what it was. "It's okay. You look tired, Ofie." He hugged her gently.

Ofie had fallen asleep on him. Jordan debated with himself, then carefully, gently shifted around so he could pick the sleeping girl up and lay her down on the empty bunk they'd been sitting against. He settled a blanket over her and tucked it around her shoulders, then leaned against the bunk, watching her for a few moments. She was broken in some ways, and she didn't even realize it; Jordan wasn't sure if he should pity her, or if he did.

He did know that he didn't want her to get hurt. Maybe she'd learn over time. It wasn't anything he could do much about; figuring people out was something you had to do for yourself, if you were going to. He sighed, and said softly, "Be careful, okay?"

He looked back just once before he left the barracks.