A few more weeks had passed, and Jeane greatly enjoyed her job. Especially since Robin fixed it so it was the correct job. She'd seen more and more of the Leandros brothers, noteably Cal, and had been working on a "monster book for dummies" for him. She was almost done, having gotten the last of the information from Khalid, and she'd asked Khalid to bind it like a book.

That had been the night before. Now she was on her way home from work, already debating what she was going to get for dinner and whether or not she'd find Khalid in the apartment. Khalid had been going out to do her own thing more recently, which was okay with Jeane.

Khalid, for the most part, was staying as far away from New York as she could for as long as she could. And her excuse for that was paying off some debts. Of course, if Jeane had ever seen more than the last page of Khalid's notebook, she would have seen through that excuse in a second, but so far, Khalid's ruse worked. Hopefully it would continue to do so for a while longer, until she was able to feel like her head was on right again.

Jeane paused mid-way back from work, looking around rather nervously. Something felt wrong. Wrong in a way she didn't like, and briefly she wished she hadn't already given the book to Cal. Then she dismissed the thought; of course she wanted Cal to have the book. He would be much better at figuring things out than her.

Shrugging, Jeane started walking again, making her way up from the subway and starting to walk back to her apartment.

She never even saw the attack coming, and she never made it back to her apartment.

cal, meanwhile was putting in extra hours at the bar. He didn't even know why he was covering someone else's shift, since the explanation had been confusing and he'd ultimately stopped listening, but he knew he would be there for the rest of the night. He was busy enough that it took him a while to realize that Jeane hadn't called him yet.

Niko stopped by the bar a few hours after Jeane should have called. He'd gotten used to her calling or texting every night to at least let them know she was home. He'd requested she check in with them, just in case. His brother was fond of her, and she was the most vulnerable of them all.

"You haven't heard from Jeane, have you?" He looked at Cal, standing across the bar from him.

"No," Cal replied. "I was just thinking about that myself. She hasn't called me at all, I thought she might have called you instead."

Niko shook his head, frowning deeply. "No, I haven't heard from her. She should have called a few hours ago." He paused for a moment. "Try calling her. See if she answers." That gave him a few moments to think of something they could do.

Because if she was missing... Well, Cal was going to flip.

Cal nodded, already pulling out his phone. He hit the recent calls button and called Jeane's number. It rang several times before rolling to voicemail, and he disconnected.

"Damn it," he said. "She's not picking up."

Niko nodded and called Robin.

"What?" The puck sounded grumpy.

"We need you to call Khalid."

"No way."

"Robin. Jeane's missing."

Robin was quiet for a few moments. "So one of you call her. You've been keeping track of her. You can call Khalid."

"No. You call her, Robin. It will take less time. Besides, we need to start looking."

Robin started swearing. "For the love of me, no! Call her yourself, damn you!"

"Goodfellow." Niko now sounded pissed. "Call Khalid."

Robin swore again before he hung up, starting to call Khalid.

Khalid glanced at her phone before snorting in distaste and ignoring the call. She did not feel like dealing with Robin right now, in any way, shape, or form. She also ignored the second call, and the third. Finally, when he called a fourth time, she picked up.

"What the hell do you want, puck? Were the first three ignored calls not enough?"

Robin growled but didn't say anything about that for now. "Jeane's gone." It wasn't much, but it conveyed what needed to be said and he knew that it would get a response from Khalid.

Although, in a way, it was almost fortuitous. This way he could say that he warned her first, and maybe get a way to talk to her again so he could figure out what the fuck actually happened.

"What?" Khalid snarled. "Why wasn't anyone keeping an eye on her?" Because of course, that was her first concern. Jeane was gone because nobody kept an eye on her. Now she had to find her owner before anything happened to her.

"Hey, that's not my fault. Cal and Niko were keeping tabs on her, not me! She was never my problem." Robin scowled at the phone. "Besides which, if you were here instead of off avoiding me, you'd be here so they wouldn't have to keep tabs on her!"

"I'm not avoiding you, and you took it upon yourself to keep an eye on her before," Khalid snapped before hanging up on him. Only part of her words were true, but it wasn't as important at the moment as finding Jeane was. Thankfully, there was one thing that always tended to get overlooked when people dealt with djinn: a djinn could always find his or her bottle. With a small pop, Khalid disappeared, back to her prison-like sanctuary.

Robin scowled and hung up as well, texting Niko that he'd called Khalid and she was going to do something. Because he was sure she would, even if she hadn't actually said anything.

Jeane, meanwhile, was hanging by her wrists, a little bloodied and bruised. Delilah had been expecting to keep her alive for a while before dumping her body as an example for Cal.

As soon as Khalid was back in her bottle, she left it again. She could enter her bottle from anywhere, but it would always let her out again in the immediate area. The room she emerged into was empty, but she spied Jeane's bag immediately, with the bottle inside. That confirmed for her that Jeane was close, and so she left the room to find her. She could always find her current owner.

It took her less than five minutes.

"Jeane!"

Going over to her, she snapped her fingers and the bindings on Jeane's wrists disappeared. Once Khalid was sure that Jeane wasn't seriously injured, she pulled out her phone and left a message for the Leandros brothers.

Got her. Taking her somewhere safe.

"I'm sorry, Jeanie," she said softly as she picked the historian up. A quick push of her magic brought Jeane's bag, and Khalid's bottle, to her. "We're going to have to take my way."

And with that, she popped out with Jeane.

Jeane groaned at that, though she didn't seem to notice the environment changing around them. She was not used to pain, and so was a pansy. She was barely even thinking coherently, let alone enough to be thinking about where she was. She sank onto the couch in Cal's apartment gratefully enough, though.

Where did you find her? Niko texted back. And where are you two now?

Rather than texting back, which would have taken too much time, she called Niko back.

"I brought her to your place," she said. "Your medical supplies are better than hers, and it's a bad idea to mess around with healing magic if one isn't skilled in it." She paused for a split second. "Now get back here and help me with her."

"Already on our way." Niko had started walking as soon as he'd heard where they were, making sure Cal was following him. Not that Cal needed much encouragement for once.

It didn't take them long to get back, and as soon as he saw Jeane he started to assess her injuries with almost clinical detachment. He knew she would be fine, it was more a matter of making sure she got rest and was as comfortable as she could be.

Khalid didn't leave Jeane's side, even once the brothers got back. She only stepped away once Jeane was taken care of and resting as comfortably as she could. Then she hesitated. Jeane was in no shape to be giving her orders, and Khalid didn't like not being able to do anything if it came down to it. So she went into Jeane's bag and pulled out her bottle, running her fingers over the outside gently before going over and holding it out to Niko.

"I really hate to do this," she said shortly, "but until Jeane is awake and coherent again, someone else has to be in charge."

Niko blinked before he took the bottle. "I thought the previous owner had to be dead, or sold the bottle?" he said quietly, though he didn't reject the bottle either. He simply tucked it into a pocket.

"I have to be sold, or my owner is in such a condition as to not be able to give orders," Khalid said. "This qualifies." She gave him a meaningful look. "But I'm trusting you to give it back to Jeane as soon as she's feeling well enough."

Niko nodded. "This is simply a temporary solution," he agreed. "I'll take first watch." He settled down in a chair next to Jeane, keeping part of his attention on her breathing rate and any movement she made, just to make sure everything stayed steady and normal.

Khalid nodded, and then rounded on Cal.

"Come with me," she said, reaching out and grabbing his wrist. Before he had a chance to do anything, she popped them back to where she found Jeane. "This is where I found her," she said, letting him go. She gave him a Look. "Take care of it."

By the time they both got back, Niko didn't even bother questioning their disappearance. He had the feeling that they wouldn't have to worry about whoever took Jeane, though. He'd already had to cover her with the blanket three or four times, since she kept moving. Although he had determined that was normal for her, and so didn't freak out when she flipped herself over, throwing off the blanket. He fetched it again.