"....ah." Jaden mumbled.

"Right, yes." he said.

He withdrew his phone from his pocket, and quickly sent a text to Sydney, telling her what happened.

"Done." he told Kalin.

"...still. Fuck." he cursed.

"This is... just... damn it!"

Jaden just sighed, and nodded.

"Yeah, sure." he said.

"Odds are Mom'll be here shortly to get further info." he went on.

"But for now..." he continued, trailing off a bit and hefting up some of the debris.

"Where's this crap going?" he asked.

Jaden just sighed.

"I understand." he said.

"Really. I do." he told her.

With that, he started to take the larger bits and put them all in a pile, and whenever he came across shards of glass, holes would open up under them, and they would fall in, coming out another hole in the wall, falling into a smaller pile.

"I'll get it all." he continued.

"You should get someone in to inspect where it came loose."

"Yeah, we should." Jaden agreed.

--

Rene just sighed a little when Desiree asked her question.

"The damage?" he asked.

"It's... manageable." he told her.

"You've got cuts and bruises all over, but the worst of it is a couple of cracked ribs, and one that's slightly broken." he reported.

"That could have been a LOT worse, young lady."

"....." Rene was silent, before sighing.

"Normally I would say yes." he told her.

"But I should be able to patch you up to the point where homecare will be all you need." he said.

"The one broken rib is the problem, but I might know a way to get that down to cracked, essentially." he went on.

"And you won't need to go to the hospital." he assured her.

"I'll also need to make the official report say you escaped with only minor injuries, and heavy sprains." he added.

Rene just shook his head.

"I don't know." he said.

"I don't know how they managed." he admitted.

"But we'll do all we can to protect you." he continued.

"Or try, anyway." he clarified.

"...but this COULD have been a freak accident." he then brought up.

"Highly unlikely, I know... but still."

Rene just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Urf." he grumbled.

"No." he said.

"But I'm not talking about carelessness here." he told her.

"I'm talking about a .01% chance that there was no malice behind this." he said further.

"...but I know." he muttered.

"We both know." he sighed.

"Sadly." Rene lamented.

"I hate that, too." he said.

"You'd think a hospital would be one of the safest places for you." he continued.

"But no. You're in more danger than ever in one." he went on.

"Just... damn it all." he growled.

"....anyway. Onto a lighter topic." he then said.

"Up until the end, how was your experience with Jaden?" he asked her.

Rene nodded in response.

"I understand." he said.

"And I think you're right." he told her.

"If this had been one of your usual shows, your head may very well be caved in right now." he sighed.

"But they probably felt they had to act, and act now." he continued.

"...for some reason." he mumbled.

"Regardless, I'm glad that you seem to get along with Jaden." he added.

Rene sighed again.

"I... don't want it to come to that again." he said.

"It's not good to live your life on the run." he told her.

"I REALLY wish you'd let me deal with this problem." he then said.

"Leave it to me, and I'll make sure they never bother you again." he continued.

"Permanently." he finished, finality and darkness to his tone.