Jason had to admit, life was pretty damn good. It had been a few weeks or so since he'd moved out of his apartment. And Lee, out of hers. They'd actually gotten one together, and while it was a two bedroom due to Lee's fears about her mutation, Jason was quite happy with the progress they were making. It wasn't long ago that she was unsure that she'd be able to be with someone for more than just one night, and now...they were committed. 

The spectacled canine shifter was up early, drinking his coffee and waiting in the living area for a client. Some new person had called him for help, and he of course agreed. After all it was his job, and they needed money. So, he decided to let his girlfriend sleep while he discussed business. Two cups of coffee down, and working on three, there was a knock at his door. Standing up, he walked over to the door. Sure, he was at home, but he was still dressed in a green button-up shirt, black slacks, and nice shoes. He still had to look professional after all.

But when he opened the door, he saw a familiar face with bright red hair, green eyes, and a pushy attitude as she walked right past him and sat on the couch. "What the **** are you doing here?" 

"That's no way to speak to a client."
"I dropped you; you weren't the one I talked to on the phone, Gladys."  He said her name as if it was venom dripping from his lips.
"Well, you wouldn't answer my calls."

Jason stood to his feet, glaring as he adjusted his glasses. "Look, you. I told you I didn't want anything to do with you. Now, ****. Off." 

Lee had been nervous, a little hesitant about moving in with Jason. Sure, she liked him, a lot in fact, much more than she had actually expected, even when they had first started the actual relationship. But Lee had never thought she'd really live with anyone again, even if she and her boyfriend had different bedrooms. And, while that sounded rather strange to say, the separate bedrooms were the only reason that Lee had been willing to move in with him. Because despite how comfortable she was with Jason, she was simply scared about what her powers might end up doing if they were to sleep near each other.

But between living with Jason and working at the bar, there was no such thing as an early night for Lee. Even when Jason went to sleep early, well early for him, Lee had too much energy to be able to sleep for a number of hours. That was one of the extra little bonuses that Lee hadn't realized until after they had moved in together; generally, Jason was there in the mornings, and as long as he didn't have a client when she woke up...well, contact was the best way for her to get energy.

Every morning started the same, though, an alarm going off until Lee managed to wake up enough to shut it off and grab her coffee from the night table. Despite everything that had changed in the last few weeks since they had moved in together, her need of coffee first thing in the morning hadn't. And so Lee sat there, sleepily drinking her coffee in bed. At least until it was gone. Then she simply sat there for a few moments, not wanting to move. If she didn't leave her room, would Jason come in to wake her up, she wondered. But then she heard voices; if Jason had a client, he wouldn't be coming in to see her any time soon, and that would not make it any easier for her to get up.

Pushing the blanket aside, Lee pushed herself to her feet with some difficulty, making her way slowly out of her bedroom still wearing her grey pajama pants and red tank top that she had slept in. Making her way on autopilot toward the kitchen for more coffee. By this point, Lee knew for sure that there was someone else in the apartment other than Jason, but Lee generally tried to not listen to his conversations with clients. Plus, Lee wasn't exactly awake enough to fully comprehend what was being said.

Not at first, anyway. Slowly, the words started to permeate her groggy mind. Frowning, Lee made her way out of the kitchen, coffee cup in hand, toward the voices. Only to stop when she saw who was sitting on the couch in the living room. "What the hell are you doing here?" Lee asked before her eyes shot to Jason. "What is she doing here?"

Jason's face turned red as he looked at her. She'd already come close to driving a wedge between him and Lee, and here she was again. Granted, she was part of why they were living together now, but not everyone could be a total waste of breath, could they?

"I don't know, Lee. Apparently she had a friend of hers make an appointment..." he said, disgruntled.

The woman just sat there, a smirk on her face. "You still have a job to do." Her voice was calm. What was her angle?

"No I don't. I gave your deposit back. And I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there: You don't have a brother. I did research. You're an only child. You weren't adopted. You don't even have a step brother. Not even I can find what doesn't exist. So, you have no business here. Get out."

"Oh, but I do have business here," she said coyly, pulling out her phone, typing a little, then putting it away. Moments later, Jason's phone vibrated, and he looked at the message.

The video he saw made his blood run cold.

"You're not the only one with investigative prowess..." she said with an evil smirk.

Lee just stood there sipping her coffee, she didn't have the energy to do much more than that yet. And, though the woman was far enough in the apartment to be sitting on her couch, Jason didn't look any happier about that fact than she did. Though, Lee did know from that last time that the woman was quite pushy.

At least Lee wasn't jealous this time; Jason's actions both the last time this woman had barged into Jason's apartment, and since then, told Lee she didn't have anything to worry about. But a lack of jealousy didn't mean a lack of anger, and that anger was bubbling up under Lee's lack of energy. Though that problem could be easily solved.

But then Lee was left in the dark as the woman tapped on her phone and a moment later Jason's phone went off. Hearing her words and seeing her smirk, Lee moved across the room over to Jason. "What is it?" Lee asked as she came up beside Jason trying to look at his phone. Whatever the video had been, it was over by the time she came up beside Jason. Since he seemed to almost be in shock over what he saw, Lee took his phone and started the video again.

Only for Lee's eyes to widen in shock. "What is this?" she asked, even though her eyes told her exactly what it was: it was footage of Jason shifting into a dog in the middle of the street. As the video finished, Lee's eyes darted up, looking back and forth between Jason and Gladys and back again. "How? No, this can't be..." Lee said, shaking her head slightly. She didn't know the woman well, but Lee knew that there was no way her having a video like this was a good thing.

Jason sat in silence, face white as a sheet, hands shaking a little as he looked at the evil redhead across from him. He didn't even acknowledge when Lee came in and took the phone. The woman just sat with her cocky, evil smirk as Lee watched the video as well. No one had to say what it was.

"I think you get my point now. You have no say over me. In fact, you're mine. So you'd best behave..." she gave a wink as she stood to her feet. "Otherwise, this goes out for everyone to see." With that, she gave a tender wave, and walked out of the door, letting it close gently behind her.

Jason just sat in shocked silence for a moment after she left. Taking a breath, he looked over at Lee, biting his lip a little. "Well....it looks like she's got me where she wants me," he said before standing to his feet and walking to his desk. "Looks like we have some work to do." Opening his laptop, he opened up save files, then pulled paperwork out of his desk, rooting through stuff, a sudden look of focus and intent in his eyes.

Lee was shocked, but Jason looked like he had seen a ghost after seeing the video of him changing into a dog. And Gladys was right, she did have Jason now. With how things were in the city, in the world, all it would take was that video going public and who knew what would happen to him. And Lee knew that a beating from a mutant hater was a best case scenario in this case.

And that scared Lee.

Apparently that was all that the woman had planned to accomplish that day, though, since with nothing else being said, she walked out the door. Swallowing, Lee followed the woman to the door, locking it behind her. Then she turned, planning on going to sit beside Jason on the couch, but he wasn't there anymore. He was at his desk, opening his laptop up. "We do," Lee stepping up behind Jason, resting her free hand on his shoulder. "But what is there we can do?"

Jason knew this woman had him in a tight spot. If she were to get that video out, Jason would be ruined, not to mention Lee. She would be guilty by association whether her being a mutant was known or not. But once the fear and shock wore off, Jason had jumped into action. His adrenaline was surging as urgency set in and he dug through files, both on his computer and in his folder, when finally he came across something.

"There we go," he said, though he wasn't exactly smiling. It was more of a serious expression. "I don't know what we're going to do, but I did find something that will help. Explains what the hell she wants with me, anyway."

He looked over at her before he handed her a stack of notes and evidence he'd gathered. "Gladys Waterson. About a year or two ago I was hired by a Teddy Waterson. Basic follow and track job. I caught his wife, little miss pushy-ass, cheating on him. But...as to what we're going to do, I have no ****ing idea."

Watching Jason go through his computer and his paper files, Lee just stood there and
waited, giving his shoulder a squeeze. And then Jason was explaining why he thought the woman was doing this, before passing a folder over.

Setting her mug down, Lee moved so that she was now leaning against the desk as she started to flip through the file. Then she shook her head. ”This is going to take a lot more coffee,” she said, exchanging the file for her coffee mug again before making her way back to the kitchen.

As she poured herself another cup, as well as one for Jason, Lee thought. Her mind wasn't moving as quickly as she would have liked yet, but it was moving a lot faster than it had been 15 minutes earlier.

”But what is it she wants?” Lee asked as she made her way back over to Jason, handing the second mug over to him. Then she sat on the edge of the desk beside Jason, picking up the folder once more. ”I mean, it's obviously not just because you're a mutant; she could have just turned that video in without going through all of this. So why let you know she's got proof, and then not say what she wants from you?”

Lee squeezed his shoulder, and that made him relax considerably. However, he realized if he hadn't had her, he could just pack up, move to a new city, and start his life over again. But he wasn't alone, and even though having a girlfriend meant that he was going to have to deal with this head-on instead of running, he was glad to have her.

He turned back, watching her go as she made her way back to the kitchen. No matter what happened, he had Lee by his side. Though she never technically returned his 'I love you,' something told him that she did. After all, they'd both packed up all their crap and moved in together. And even through whatever Gladys had up her sleeve...Lee didn't opt to leave. Even now, she was bringing them coffee.

"Well," he said, taking the cup of coffee with a 'Thank you' and a quick kiss on the lips as he went back to his work, "the best reason I can give? She wants to get back at me somehow. She's trying to get under my skin. But I don't know if this makes her really good at blackmail, or really bad at it. I mean...I don't know what she wants from me, all I know is she has me by the balls...." he sighed, staring into his cup for a moment.

Despite the seriousness of what they were dealing with with Gladys’ threat, Lee couldn't help the smile from appearing on her face when Jason gave her a kiss as she handed him his coffee.

But Jason didn't seem to have any better idea than she did about why this woman was doing what she was. Lee sighed slightly as she turned her attention back to the file Jason had handed her.

An hour later, not much had changed, except now Lee was sitting on the floor beside Jason's desk, papers scattered in front of her, half empty coffee cup at her knee. Lee had been over Jason's notes and the other information in the file a few times by this point, trying to connect the dots to explain why Gladys was doing this, why now, and figure out what she was hoping to gain from it. But when half the dots seemed to be missing, it was hard to figure out what the picture was supposed to be.

”What about her family?” Lee asked Jason, looking over at him. ”You don't have much of anything about them here. If her and Teddy divorced, maybe her coming after you now has something to do with her family?”

An hour went by, but he couldn't find anything on her intentions. Jason let out a deep sigh. "So we're pretty sure she wants to get me back for catching her cheating on her husband--multiple times, might I add--but...aside from that...I have no idea what her angle is, sadly."

Jason looked down at Lee as she spoke, and he bit his lip thoughtfully. "Not much, no. There really isn't anything to go on. Unless it took her this long to find me...I mean...ugh..." he lay his head on the desk, thinking. His coffee cup had been emptied several times, but nothing was really helping. "Maybe she just wants to make our lives miserable. I don't know at this point."

Gladys had cheated on her husband multiple times that Jason had caught her at, Lee had seen that as pictures in the file he’d given her, but otherwise he was still no closer to understanding what the woman was thinking than Lee was.

Hearing Jason’s frustration building once more, Lee turned to look over her shoulder at him only to see that he’d laid his head down on the desk. Climbing to her feet, Lee gently prodded Jason until he lifted his head, then sat on his lap, wrapping an arm around his neck. ”If that’s the case, we won’t let her make us miserable,” Lee said before giving Jason a quick kiss.

”We’ll find our way out of this somehow. I mean, you are good at your job, right?” Lee asked, a slightly teasing smile curling her lips. But before Jason was able to say anything, Lee heard his phone going off. What now? She thought, as her eyes drifted over to the phone.

Jason looked up when prodded, and smiled when met with arms around his neck and a quick kiss. "Yeah, we need to think clearly. If we let her get to us, she's going to have us where she wants us," he said thoughtfully.

He flashed a mischievous grin. "Damn straight I'm good at my job," he said confidently as he adjusted his glasses. His phone vibrated, and both pairs of eyes drifted towards it. Tentatively, he picked up his phone and looked at it; it was from Gladys. After reading the text, he showed it to Lee.

'If you want to keep your little secret safe, do everything I say. Go to the shop down the street and buy a pound of black licorice jellybeans.'

"What do you think? Should we play her game? I hate licorice...."

Lee returned Jason’s smile with a small one of her own as she saw his frustration sort of fade. That he was thinking a bit clearer. ”Exactly,” Lee said with a slight nod toward Jason. ”And we’re not going to let her get to us like that. Or beat us.”

But when Jason grinned at her, commenting on how he was, in fact, good at his job, and Lee grinned back at him. ”Good,” Lee said. ”Because I don’t know where to start, but I’ll help with whatever you need me to.”

And that’s when Jason’s phone went off. Lee just sat there on Jason’s lap, not sure what to do or think, as he reached for his phone. Then he passed her the phone. It only took Lee a moment to read the text, then she looked up at Jason in confusion. ”Why in the world would she want you to do that?” Lee asked. So far, the more that happened, the more Lee wondered what the overall plan in that woman’s head was. ”But, maybe we should play along. At least for now, until we figure out what we’re going to do about her.”

"Exactly. We're stronger than that," he said with a wink as he turned fully to look at her. "Well, I've been doing this for several years; I'd hope I was some good by now," he teased lightly.

But now he was just confused. Black Jellybeans? What kind of blasphemy was this? "Well, I guess I've got a store run to make," he said with a sigh. "I'm not sure what she's getting at, but...she better reimburse me for this.." Jason grumbled as he grabbed his jacket, gave Lee a passionate kiss goodbye, then made his way to the store.

Which was...surprisingly uneventful. He bought the jellybeans, which took him like an hour to find, then an hour back home. With a grumble, he pushed open the door and set the bag of jellybeans on the counter. "That was the biggest load of bull****..." he grumbled.