Chapter 55：A Gentle Nudge

"Maya? What are you doing here? Where's Kyle?" Jones held open the door and allowed her to come inside the house.

"He's in Rome with his newfound family so I didn't want to take him away from them, just yet.." She looked around the entrance hall. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs in his room-don't open the curtains and don't-"

"Yeah, yeah,whatever.," Amaya muttered as she ran up the stairs. "Kids are asleep in the car please get someone to take them to the guest room. Thanks, Jones."

As soon as she got to the room she barged in like a bulldozer but found the bed empty. The room was engulfed in darkness so she switched on the lamp on the nightstand and turned down the music. She heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom and the door was slightly ajar as she walked towards it.

"Jordan? Can I come in?" She stood outside and waited for him to respond but was met with silence. "I'm coming in..so you better be decent hot-stuff." She shielded her eyes and stepped in, then peered at him through the gaps in between her fingers. "Even if I see you naked, you're my baby brother so it's no biggie right?" He looked up at her with a ghost of a smile, then as quickly as it appeared it left his face.

He was slumped on the floor, his head leaning on the basin. He was dressed in nothing but his pajama shorts and looked like he hadn't slept for days.

"Nice hairdo hot-stuff," she ruffled his hair and winked at him as she knelt in front of him. "We're going to get through this-you know why?" She asked him, "because you're Jordan "freakin' Carter and you have been through worse and you always bounce back up. No matter the situation, no matter the circumstance-you always pick yourself up and start again." Amaya kissed him on the forehead. "Eww! You smell like vodka and vomit!" She made a face and stood up, "I'm going to run you a bath and then we're going for a drive. Sounds good?" He gave her a weak smile and nodded.

"Your bath is ready Your Highness," Amaya bowed mockingly, "can you manage to do this on your own or should I get KJ and Ethan to come and help you?" Jordan got up and grunted, rolling his eyes at her.

"I'm going to make you something to eat-and you better eat it, Jordan Carter." She warned, "I didn't fly over here in the middle of the night to come and baby-sit a grown man."

But the truth of the matter was..she actually did. When she received the call from Lisa and Olivia that Lana was gone she knew she had to come and check on him, because chances were he was an emotional wreck-and he was. She chose him something to wear and laid it on the bed before she left his room.

"How is he?" Jones asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"He'll live," she answered nonchalantly, proceeding to prepare the meal.

"What happened up there? I didn't hear any yelling?" He sat on the high-stool and helped toss the salad.

"Men find me irresistible I guess." She shrugged as she smirked and made a face at Jones who did his best to smirk back.

"Thanks for coming Maya. He is in a bad space.."

"Then we will drag him right out of it-kicking and screaming if necessary," she said, "but he probably just needs a gentle nudge."

"Hope you're right because we've tried everything," he sighed.

"I've made some of his favorite food. It's is almost done," she put down the fork, "please get someone to put it on a tray, I'll come and get it just now. I'm going to check on my boys-all of them," she laughed as she walked out.

The boys were sound asleep and Jordan was still in the bathroom, so she went back to the kitchen, set the mini-banquet on a tray and went back upstairs. Jordan was back under the covers and was watching the current season of Game of Thrones. He gazed at the food briefly and pretended not to be affected by seeing all his favorite food-laden on the tray. It was mostly comfort food; piping hot chicken soup, garlic and cheese rolls, steak strips, chicken nuggets, buffalo wings with a side-sauce, a cucumber salad and chocolate mousse with strawberries and cream for dessert.

Amaya remained quite calm and unperturbed. She jumped in beside him and balanced the tray on her lap, then preceded to feed him.

"This is how it's going to work hot-stuff..I'm going to put food in your mouth and you're going to bite, chew and swallow. Got it? Can you do that for me?" The look on her face prevented any protests from Jordan and he did exactly as he was instructed. They washed down the meal with lots of water because she said that he needed to get re-hydrated.

After they had eaten she took the plates back down and Jones was waiting for an update. "Did he eat all that?"

"Most of it," she beamed and got another bottle of water from the refrigerator, "I think he drank more than a liter of water. He must be really thirsty."

"Or dehydrated. A diet of mostly alcohol can do that to you," Jones observed.

"I'm going to take him for a drive. Please watch the boys, " she informed. "Can I please have the keys for the black Range?"

"Okay let me get them for you. Where are you going?"

"Out. Anywhere..Somewhere..Not sure but I think he needs to get out of the house," she said making her way back up to his room.

"We're going out so grab your jacket hot-stuff," she said, "it's kind of nippy outside" She rummaged through his draws and extracted a beanie, which she placed over his head, making sure his ears were covered. He shook his head and almost snickered. "What? I'm big-sister looking out for her helpless baby brother," she tweaked his cheeks and smiled "Let's rock and roll." She dragged him down the stairs and into the Range Rover.

They drove aimlessly, in silence, until they came across an ice-skating ring that was still open. Amaya drove up to the place and parked the car. She hired skates and paid for them. Jordan put his on quietly and grabbed her hand as they lurched forward onto the skating-ring. Better Now from Post Malone blared through the speakers and she started to dance around him, bumping into him intentionally.

"I can't with you anymore!" He burst out laughing and fell backwards as he did so.

"Wow! IT speaks," She seemed to glide over the floor without effort of any sort and held out her hand to him.

"Thanks, AK." He put his arms around her and locked her in an embrace, "you're the best older sister anyone could ever have." He kissed her cold cheek, "but you're also annoying." They laughed and hugged each other again.

"Let's get out of here and find somewhere to get a latte. I'm freezing my butt off!" She said as she shivered.

"I was wondering how long you were going to last!" Jordan chuckled.

"Touche hot-stuff," she laughed, "for a moment I thought you had gone mute."

"Come on let's go before you get sick, and then Kyle will really kill me."

"Me thinks you can drive now-yes?" She handed him the keys and went over to the passenger side.

"How about we skip the coffee AK? An Irish coffee could be more ideal don't you think?" Jordan winked at her.

"I like the way you think Jordan Carter," she smiled and punched him playfully on the shoulder.

"I'm going to take you to Neumann's Bar, it's the oldest pub in Minnesota. You'll like it."

"Cool. Let's do it." She enthused. "Soo..today I received a call from the White House.." Amaya said and Jordan couldn't contain himself, he burst out laughing.

"So there's no chance of you helping your old man huh?" She furrowed her brows.

"None." He said conclusively.

"I respect that," she nodded.

"Here we are," he pulled over to the pub and helped her out.

"Wait!" She called him back, "I need to document this moment." She took out her phone and snapped a couple of pics of them before the stepped inside.

"I get to choose which ones to upload on your profile," he grabbed her phone and posted the photos of his choice.

"Now that's out of the way..let the fun begin..I'll race you to the door.." He broke into a run and was way ahead before she even thought of catching up.