If Jake wasn't hugging me as enthusiastically as I was hugging him, I didn't even notice or care. I couldn't believe that this was happening, that someone had actually volunteered. Maybe Jake was doing it just so that he hoped that it would prevent me, in some small way, from getting into too much trouble. But whatever the reason, he was offering and that was way more than I could have expected from anybody. He cared enough to offer.

I pulled away and took a step back, wiping at my cheeks reflexively even though they -- and my eyes -- were completely dry. Maybe I just felt like crying? A lot was happening at once here, from the chase and the drug bust and the swell of uniforms around me to Jake yelling at me and then saying he would be my guardian. That was even a lot for me to take in.

"Yeah, definitely stuff to talk about. And probably the home's gonna want to talk to you, too? I don't even know what they'd ask. You're a police officer. You should be golden. But they'll want to check anyway. Do you already have a second bedroom? Oh, God, I'm not gonna make you move, am I?"