Rose threw herself down onto her bed and buried herself in a mountain of blankets. Thoughts swirled over and over in her head. Thoughts from her conversation with Edward and feeling proud that they had finally talked. Concern for Owen because he wasn't acting like himself. First, he comes home and acts super distant. Then, he starts acting like his usual self. Then, he acts distant again. And then, he kissed her hand and still acted distant! Rose felt like she had whiplash from his mood swings alone. 

After tossing and turning in bed and replaying the day's events on repeat in her head, she finally gave up on sleep and sat upright in bed. She wanted to march over to Owen's room and demand answers, but she also wanted to march over to his room and hug him and cuddle him until he started feeling better. Instead, she went for a jog. She thought the cool night air would soothe her thoughts and the exercise would tire her out. She put on yoga pants and a sports bra, threw her hair into a high ponytail, and snuck out of the house as quietly as she could.

For the duration of her jog, she kept thinking about Owen and wondering why he was acting so weird. As her sneakers rhythmically met the payment, she replayed the encounter over again in her head. He had been acting normally the day before, but when he came home from visiting his mom he was not himself. Could something have happened at home? Maybe he fought with his mom. Maybe she came down with a mystery illness and in order to pay her hospital bills she had to take out a loan but she went to a loan shark and she accumulated an unreasonable amount of interest and Owen has to now try and find a way to pay off the loan sharks before his mom’s life is in danger. 

A sudden splash from her shoe landing in a puddle snapped Rose out of her delusion. She hadn’t realized that it had started raining. She slowed her pace, looking around to find a place to take shelter. She looked around and found herself in the middle of a dimly lit park. Not too far away, she found a gazebo and made her way to it. Sitting on the bench, she caught her breath and wondered how long she had been running. She reached into the small slit in her yoga pants that the manufacturers dared call a pocket. Nothing. She tried the other pocket and still found nothing. A shiver crept up her spine at the thought of being alone in the middle of the night without her phone. She tried to find any familiar landmarks, but there was nothing she recognized. 

Her stomach dropped and she could feel her heart pounding like it was trying to break out of her chest. Her breath hitched as she looked around her surroundings in a panic. Her mind went to the worst-case scenario. She was in an unfamiliar area with no phone. She couldn’t call anyone to help find her or look at her maps app to find her way home. She had been in such a daze when she arrived at the park, that now she had no idea which direction she came from. It was the middle of the night so no one would realize that she was gone for hours. Her breathing became rapid as she realized how small she was in the big, wide world. 

Rose tried to calm her erratic breathing by taking slow breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth, she reminded herself. She pulled her knees to her chest on the gazebo bench and put her head between her knees. For what seemed like forever, she focused on her breathing. “It’ll all be okay,” she whispered to herself, “I am okay. I can get through this.” Once she was able to get her breathing under control, Rose tried to think of a solution. The best that she came up with was staying right where she was. It was dark and she had no idea where she was. If she tried to find her way home, she would probably end up even more lost.

To stop her mind anxiously spirally, Rose thought back to Owen’s behavior. She and Owen had been spending a lot of time together recently and have been growing very close. She sometimes felt that there was a spark between them and it might be possible that Owen feels something for her. Maybe when he came in and saw Edward and her acting friendly, he got jealous. Which, she guessed, could explain the kiss on the hand. Especially because it felt so intimate. Whatever it was that was bothering him, it clearly made him sad, and that nearly broke Rose’s heart. Owen was normally such a goofy guy who took whatever life threw at him and turned it into something good. Rose just wanted to make everything right again. 

Rose’s face grew warm as she started to realize how deep her feelings for Owen went. It was more than the silly crush she thought it was. She wanted to think about Owen to get her mind off of her being scared, but now she was scared for an entirely different reason. She could not see their relationship working out. For starters, Rose was married. In addition to that, she wondered if she truly could make Owen happy. She felt like she would only drag him down. 

Tears welled in her eyes and she placed her head in her hands. Everything was starting to catch up to her and she grew very tired. All she wanted to do was crawl into her warm and cozy bed, and sleep until all her problems went away. She silently cursed herself for adventuring off by herself in the middle of the night after such an eventful day. Now she was just cold, wet, and sad. Rose squeezed her eyes shut and shivered against the cold. 

Owen struggled to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Rose and Edward huddled together on the couch. In reality, he knew they weren’t sitting that close together, but in his mind, they were cuddling and full-on flirting. He knew he had no place to be jealous. This was good. They were married and it was only right that they start getting along. He should be happy for them. He shouldn’t be this upset that the married couple was acting like a married couple. He is only an assistant, after all. 

Owen’s spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door closing and soft footsteps padding down the stairs. He pushed himself out of bed and peeked out his door to see Rose sneaking out in jogging clothes. He considered the dangers of a young woman jogging alone in the dark and immediately wanted to chase after her. However, he did not want to overstep his position. He also needed time to collect his own thoughts. Instead, he made his way to the living room and decided to wait up for her.

After an hour without any sign of Rose returning, Owen grew worried. He knew he shouldn’t have let her go alone. He should have chased after her and insisted that they go together. He reached for his phone and called her. No answer. He tried again and again, only reaching her voicemail. 

“Rose,” he said slowly, trying to keep the concern out of his voice, “It’s Owen. Where are you? You should come home. I’ll pick you up if you need.” 

He paced around the living room and kept his eyes glued to the screen of his phone. After 15 minutes of not hearing from her, he continued his pacing on the porch. He nearly went cross-eyed by keeping an eye on his phone and the other on the walkway up to the house. Another 15 minutes went by and no word from Rose.

His worry grew to panic and he couldn’t stop imagining the horrible things that could happen to a girl who was alone at night. He wouldn’t forgive himself if anything happened to her. He should have gone with her. He should have gone with her! It would be his fault if she got hurt. It would be his fault if she could never come home again.

Owen physically could not wait any longer. He ran into the house and up the stairs to Edward’s room. Without even knocking, he threw the blankets off the sleeping man and started shaking him awake. He didn’t care if Edward fired him for this. He didn’t care about his position in the house. All he could think about was Rose’s safety.

“Edward, get up. Get up! Get up!” Owen cried, pulling Edward out of bed. “We have to go now.”

Edward groaned and fell to the floor. He sat up, rubbing his head, and asked, “What the hell was that for?” He blinked his eyes open and grew concerned when he saw that Owen was practically jumping up and down from adrenaline.

“Rose is missing,” Owen explained frantically and began dragging Edward out of the room. “She left nearly two hours ago on a jog and she’s not back yet and I can’t get through to her phone even though I’ve called like a thousand times.” He shoved Edward into the car's passenger seat and continued, his speech getting faster and faster as he spoke. “I should have gone with her, Edward. I shouldn’t have let her go alone. Oh, God. What if it’s too late?”

“Owen,” Edward said, finally. “Take a deep breath. We will find her. I’ll call in some reinforcements.” Edward took his phone that he had somehow managed to grab while he was being dragged to the car, and he began making calls. 

Adrenaline coursed through Owen’s veins and he drove as fast as he reasonably could. He would find her no matter what it takes.

Rose hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep until she felt someone shaking her shoulder violently. Rose blinked her eyes opening, looking around in confusion until everything came back to her. She sat up slowly and found both Owen and Edward staring anxiously at her. Edward had been the one to shake her awake. He helped her to her feet, and Owen draped a jacket around her. 

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Owen growled in a low voice. Rose jolted in shock. She had never seen him angry before. His eyebrows were drawn very close together and his mouth turned down in a frown. However, it was his eyes that sent a shiver through her. She could see a mix of emotions swimming in them. Anger, worry, relief, tiredness. She wondered how long they had been searching. 

Edward shot Owen a look and placed a hand on Rose’s back to guide her into the warm car. “Now, now, Owen. Let our dear friend process everything that’s going on before we begin interrogating her.”

Normally, Rose would have laughed at the ridiculousness of Edward being the reasonable one, but Owen lowered his eyes and didn’t say anything else as he drove them home. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and his eyes could have burned a hole through the windshield. Rose caught his eyes once in the rearview mirror, but he quickly averted them. Rose felt like she would burst into tears.

Meanwhile, Edward sat next to her in the back seat. He grabbed a couple of blankets from the trunk and piled them on her. Rose could tell he wasn’t used to tending to another person by his awkwardness. At first, he threw the blankets on top of her and tried to tuck them around her. He pointed all the air vents directly at her. Once Rose complained of being too hot, he undid all of his work. Rose smiled at him to show her appreciation and wrapped herself up in a single blanket. The rest of the ride, Edward fiddled his hands and asked Owen how much longer every five minutes. 

Once they arrived home all Rose wanted to do was collapse into her bet, but she thought it only fair to explain to the men what had happened and ensure that she was okay. She sat on the sofa with Owen’s jacket and the blanket still wrapped around her. Owen made them all tea to warm up before sitting on the coffee table before her. Edward took a seat next to him and Rose started to feel like this really was an interrogation. 

Edward spoke first. “Rose, darling. What were you thinking?”

Rose looked at the mug cupped between her hands. She did not want to explain to her husband and the person she probably had more than a crush on that she couldn't sleep because she was thinking about Owen's weird behavior. "I couldn't sleep," she said timidly.

"So you left the house in the middle of the night and slept on the bench in a part wearing thin clothes?" Owen snapped, his voice growing loud. "You didn't even bring your phone! We couldn't reach you!" 

Rose blinked away tears, and Edward took her hand in his. "We aren't mad at you, dear," he said gently, "We were so worried when we couldn't reach you." 

Owen huffed and Rose nodded slowly, understanding the panic she must have given them. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to cause you guys so much trouble."

Owen softened and let out a long sigh. "It's been a long night. I think we all need to get some sleep. Rose, why don't you take a warm bath or something to warm you up? I'll bring a clean towel to your room. If you'll excuse me." 

After Owen left, Edward took the seat next to her. He gingerly, yet awkwardly, wrapped an arm around her. "It's okay. Owen is the one who realized you had left. We couldn't find you for hours and were both in a bit of a panic. Once he's come down from the adrenaline, he will be okay." He stood and pulled Rose to her feet. "Now come, darling. Let's get you to bed." 

Rose felt like a child being led to her room by Edward. It was such a weird feeling to be comforted by him and scolded by Owen. 

Once in her room, Rose found the fluffiest and coziest pajamas she owned. Owen had a good idea. She felt grimy and gross from sleeping outside after running. Her eyes felt like they had been rubbed raw, and she had a chill that didn't go away no matter how many blankets were on her. She started running the bath and topped it off with bubbles and salts.

A knock on her door came moments later and she opened it for Owen, who pushed a towel into her hands. He stood there silently, staring at the floor. He wanted to say something but was struggling to get the words out.

"I'm sorry again. I really didn't mean to scare you guys," Rose said. Her voice came out weak and broke with the lump that formed in her throat. She looked away and bit the inside of her cheek, trying not to let her tears flow. She was surprised to find that she still had tears left inside her to shed.

Owen's gaze shot up and he tried to make eye contact. He took a step forward and pulled Rose to him, wrapping her up in his embrace. "I know," he murmured into her hair, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. We just couldn't find you and I was so scared that something had happened to you. Then when we saw you lying there, your skin was so cold. I didn't know if you were breathing. I was terrified."

Rose heard his voice break and she felt his wet tears on her neck. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight. "You're kind of hot when you're mad," she joked. 

Owen chuckled into Rose's hair. She could have sworn she felt him leave a soft kiss against her cheek, but she couldn't be sure. He slowly released her and cupped her face in his hands. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs and held her eyes with his. "Go take a warm bath and get into bed. You need a good rest, and so do I for that matter." He smiled and held her face a beat longer before releasing her and heading to his room.