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She’s here to help me isn’t she?"
    "And was one of those requests to go and find you some porn?" Megan demanded, her voice rising in anger.
    He shrugged. "I wasn’t serious."
    She expelled an angry breath. "And then, of course, there is the recently departed Mrs. Allen. She raised 4 boys, Jason. And she lasted a whole-" Megan stopped and checked her watch. "A whole 3 and a half hours with you! What the hell did you do to the poor woman?"
    "Nothing," he said, looking at her with an innocent expression. "I might have been cranky but I’m not a morning person."
    "Cranky does not cause that kind of reaction in someone, Jason!" She ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "What the hell are you doing? Why are you deliberately driving these people away?"
    "Who says I am?" he said mildly. "Maybe nurses and I just don’t mesh."
    She eyed him and suddenly, she remembered that look he had given her in the hospital. She had dismissed it at first but could now see that she had been right. That was the look Jason usually gave someone before he went into his stubborn mode and began a battle of wills with them. She and Jason had exchanged looks like that frequently in their relationship, and some of their battles had been epic. She sensed another epic battle taking shape right now.
    She didn’t know if she should be happy or angry that he had also retained this aspect of his personality. She settled on angry, because it was easier to deal with at the moment.
    "Jason, you need a nurse here!"
    He shook his head. "No, I don’t. I just need someone to help me with things at times. I don’t need a 24 hours-a-day babysitter!"
    "That’s what they’re doing! Helping you, that is if you’d let them!"
    "I don’t like nurses."
    "Who else is qualified to help you?"
    He didn’t answer right away, and she thought for a second that she had won, or at least made a very sizeable dent in his argument against nurses. But then, he looked at her and she knew she hadn’t won anything. "You."
    And just like that, the anger seeped out of her, replaced by emotions she was unprepared to deal with. "W-what. . .J-Jason, I-" she stammered. “I can’t.”
    "Why not?" he asked calmly.
    "Lots of reasons."
    "I’ll settle for one."
    "I can’t."
    "That’s not a reason."
    She expelled a short, quick breath in frustration. "Jason, I. . .I’m not a trained nurse and you need a nurse. I mean, who’s gonna make sure your medications are right? What if you accidentally fall? Or something goes wrong? You need someone who will be prepared in the event of an emergency."
    A look of irritation passed across his face. "Megan, I had a brain injury, I didn’t become an incompetent idiot." His jaw clenched, a telltale sign that he was digging his heels in. "I told you, I don’t need a babysitter, or for someone to treat me like a baby. I just need. . .” He sighed. “I just need someone I feel comfortable around here to help me out with things, like reaching for stuff on the shelf, making sure I don’t trip and bang my head and lose even more of my brain function."
    The last part was said with a small smile, but the trauma of it all was still too new and raw to her. "Not funny."
    "Sorry," he said sincerely. "But I’m fine. You had this house modified really well. I mean with the ramps and handrails and all, I can get around fine on my own. I really don’t need a nurse."
    "So you think," she said, refusing to give in. She could be stubborn too, especially when she knew she was right.
    "Fine," he retorted, sounding equally stubborn. "Then let’s ask my doctor. Whatever he says, goes.”
    She shook her head. "No. Even if he says you don’t need a nurse, I still get to make the final decision remember?"
    "Yeah, about that. . ."
    She sighed. She didn’t want to argue with him. And in fact, it was shocking her just how easy it was to fall back into their familiar bickering. Things like this, familiar patterns that weren’t quite the same, seemed to only make