War isn't over • LM / SS

Chapter 11 - husband material

"So don't say yes, run away now,
i'll meet you when we're out
of the church at the back door."

word count: 4.5k

Jordan Parrish got up from his seat behind his desk, flinging open the door to his apartment. He couldn't help it when the corners of his mouth curved into an amused smile, standing to the side to let the woman pass through the threshold. Although he didn't know what she was doing there, it would be rude to leave her standing on his doorstep.

There was a skip in Blair's step as she threw herself into a chair on the opposite side of the desk, holding out a coffee cup for him to take and placing a box of blueberry muffins onto the table. "Americano Black."

Jordan took the drink from her outstretched hand, a finger tapping against the cup in time to the music in the background. "You remembered?" It came out more like a question than a statement, yet she nodded along as if it was obvious nonetheless. "Iced caramel macchiato with two pumps of vanilla syrup for the sweetness."

Blair threw her head back as she laughed breezily, surprised that he had remembered her long order. "I still don't know how you can drink that. It's probably the worst thing I've tasted in my life. Like, ever," she wrinkled her nose in disgust, sipping away happily on her drink.

"I thought you said you'd never tasted one of them," he questioned, referring to their stakeout outside of Tracy Stewart's house a week ago. What could he say, it had been one hell of a long night and Blair apparently didn't like silence, rambling when it fell quiet for longer than three seconds. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't complaining; it was cute.

She shrugged nonchalantly, scratching her eyebrow anxiously. "Liberty and Nathan make me drag them to Starbucks every Friday after school. I tried one yesterday and it was actually revolting. Nathan liked it, though, so he wasn't complaining that he got two drinks," she laughed at the memory, sipping on her coffee once more. "Whatcha doing?"

Jordan chanced a glance up from his project, watching how she had leaned in from her seat to get a better look. "Scott wanted my help. These are cell phone jammers from the station— best if we don't mention that to Noah. I'm tryna broaden the range of frequency."

"The Dread Doctors used frequencies to get into that institution, Eichen," she understood what Scott was trying to do. "They're going to protect Hayden in the school tonight. It's on top of the Hale vault, which makes it a fortress. She's a chimera, Liam found that out yesterday at Sinema. Nathan made me drive him over to Scott's at eleven last night because she locked herself inside the bathroom. He's been stuck to her side like freaking glue ever since."

He laughed lightly at how fast she talked, taking a sip out of his Americano. The room fell comfortably quiet, Blair running out of things to say, resorting to watching his movements as he worked away.

"You okay?"

"Hm?" Her head snapped up from her daze, tucking her hands neatly into her overall pockets. The pair had spent a lot of time together over the last seven months. Unbeknownst to Blair, he had started to pick up on when she was getting anxious. She would tug on any piece of silver jewellery she wore, chip away at her nail polish or go uncharacteristically quiet. Her eyes were usually full of life but they would sort of lose their spark, almost as if she was millions of miles away. He could never pinpoint exactly what made her so uneasy.

"Something bothering you?" he questioned gently. He wanted her to know that she could talk to him, that he was there; without pushing too much and driving her away.

"No!" She chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to hide her embarrassment, voice after betraying her when it raised by about ten octaves. Her brown eyes followed his movements as he put down the tools he was using to work, squirming in her skin now that his full attention was directly on her, waiting for a reply. God, he had the patience of a saint. "Haven't been sleeping well, that's all."