Laurel let a light chuckle escape her as she shook her head. "Seriously?" she asked no one in particular as she looked at Nic with laughing, slightly pitying eyes. "I really can't stay mad at you," she told him as she patted his knee, "Not when you're this cute."

Nic was rather frustrated, glaring at his foot. Which of course made him look sillier.

Laurel slowly grinned as she reached out and yanked his foot back, "You're still weak," she recalled as she began to tickle his foot relentlessly, "It's payback time!" she declared.

Nic tried to yank his foot back. When he realized he was at Laurel's mercy, he started cussing breathlessly as his face started contorting. He was clearly ticklish, but it was almost like he didn't know how to laugh. So he just kept cussing instead.

Laurel started to laugh louder, "I've found your weakness~" she teased as she didn't let up. All her frustration at him started melting away as his face distorted.

Nic had to start getting creative with his cusses, struggling with not being overly foul as he started to run thin on mild curses and the tickling continued.

"Just laugh, boulder!" Laurel said, laughing herself.

It didn't look like he was going to laugh. And soon it had become too much. He needed to make the tickling stop - he needed to distract Laurel. So in one quick, fluid movement Nic sat up, hand reaching toward Laurel's chest.

The tickling stopped. Laurel froze, gaze slowly leaving Nic's face and drifting down to her chest. Her face was unreadable.

Nic relaxed as Laurel stopped tickling his foot. He got his feet away from her before he let go and let out a sigh of relief. Then he waited for her reaction.

Laurel remained frozen.

After another long moment or two, Nic tried to get a look at Laurel's face.

When Nic got closer, Laurel shied away. She refused to look at him.

Nic backed off a little to give her some space.

There was nothing from him for a long minute. Then he swung his leg over and put his foot in front of Laurel without a word.

Laurel didn't react for a long time. When she did she reached out and put a light hand on his foot. "Don't... do it like that again..." she whispered, voice a little odd.

Nic didn't say anything. He was staring off to the side blankly.

Laurel hadn't liked that at all. After another long moment she moved, slowly crawling up his leg to sit beside him. She wrapped her arms around his chest and hid her face.

Nic still didn't move - slowly tuning out the world around him again.

When Nic didn't hug her back, Laurel pulled away and noticed what was going on. After a brief moment of hesitation she leaned up and kissed him lightly.

That brought him back a bit, but he looked like he still wanted to just check out.

"Stop," Laurel pleaded before kissing him again.

Nic was confused, not sure what he was doing wrong this time.

"Don't..." Laurel suddenly looked like she might cry as her voice broke, "l-leave me again."

Nic was having a really hard time trying not to emotionally shut down like it went against every grain in his body. He tried to keep eye contact with Laurel. She could see the emotions in his eyes changing with every heart beat. It seemed to be wearing him down.

Laurel looked into Nic's eyes for a long moment. As the emotions grew in his eyes, they died in hers. After a long moment she pulled away, "It's fine," she stated quietly, "If it's too much for you... it's okay."

As Laurel pulled away, Nic reached out to grab her arm. He hadn't given up yet.

Laurel was visibly shocked, she looked back at Nic with wide eyes.

He still looked like he was losing, but he hadn't lost quiet yet.

Laurel watched Nic continue to fight for a moment before a small smile came out and she reached up, stroking his cheek gently. "Don't try to change all at once," she told him quietly, "I'm not going anywhere."

"... I..." Nic muttered. But nothing else came.

"Shh..." Laurel whispered, stroking his cheek again, "You've done your best... that's all I can ask for." She leaned forward and kissed his neck softly, "Now rest, I'll stay here." She moved her hand up and ran it through his hair, "Rest."

Nic didn't look like he wanted to, but it wasn't long before he lost. "Can't... l-" he whispered as his eyes started to become blank as it became too much for him, and he slowly passed out.

Laurel leaned up and kissed him to sleep. Then she caught him before he fell over and gently maneuvered him down onto the pillow. Then she sighed, sitting back a little and watching him.

"You always knew his was this pathetic, didn't you?" she exclaimed to his younger brother, "A little hint would have been helpful. That flickering light didn't tell me much." She reached over and brushed some hair back behind Nic's ear, "He acts so tough but he's such a little boy on the inside. A hurting... child." She grunted, "Talk about a shattered image... How'd I fall for this moron?" she complained to the brother before she laid down beside Nic and hugged him. "We're both nothing more than hurting children I suppose..."

The day and night passed. Nic disappeared for a good few hours in the morning, but he had let Laurel know.

In his spare time, Raven was now slowly trying to learn how to be more useful if he ended up in a fight.

Blaze was doing a lot of pacing. She had finally come to a decision and was now working up the nerve to carry it through.

Laurel was in an outdoor shooting range with Snow and had invited Raven along. She was getting pretty good, it seemed like her eyes were helping with her aim.

Kale continued to be surrounded by Pepper.

Raven was clearly out of his element. At one point he had learned the basics, but he was pretty rusty.

Blaze stayed far away from Pepper, waiting for her to leave.

Laurel pretty much ignored Raven. She was completely focused on the gun and target.

Finally Pepper was called away by Wolfe for something and Kale was alone in his room doing some exercises.

So Raven tried to keep focused on what he was doing.

Blaze paced outside for awhile before finally knocking on the door.

Finally Laurel put down the pistol. "Teach me to use another gun," she practically ordered Snow. Snow blinked before nodding. Laurel seemed to have some driving force behind her as she picked up a larger gun and set about learning it.

Surprisingly, the door opened. Kale stood in the doorway, still looking weak but he was up and walking. He was surprised to see her but it wasn't clear if he was happy or not.

Raven didn't say anything, staying focused on his own goals.

Blaze didn't say anything for a long moment.