Handler

A little bit bigger smile and light chuckle finally made its way to the surface, and Garret's shoulders dropped in surrender. If he was going to do this, he'd do it right...as soon as he had the energy.

"Yeah... I can help with that. In the next week or so, we'll work on it." After a moment, he got to his feet again and looked down at Maggie sitting there on the bed with those big brown eyes that he was pretty sure could melt an iceberg. How in the world had he ended up in this place? He reached down and ruffled her hair before turning to leave.


"Didn't miss a thing." Kirk grinned as Ron joined them. "I was just going to give the grand tour. I know you saw parts of it before, but come with, and I can show all of you the operations here." He started forward, then stopped again to look at all three of them in seriousness. "And when we're done here, I want you to know that any of you can back out. This place specializes in fighting the Agency, and once you sign on, there's no going back. You're tagged for life. So just keep that in mind." He knew Adison wouldn't back out, and he was pretty sure Sam wouldn't. Ron had already gotten a taste of the Agency and knew the risks, but if he decided it was too much, Kirk wouldn't hold it against him.

"Okay, let's go." He led the other three across the main floor, spotting a couple people to introduce them to along the way. He pointed out some offices and more agents, and took them by the conference room and the interrogation rooms, explaining how they operated here. It was similar to the FBI, but with fewer restraints, really. That was the biggest difference here. And while Kirk recognized the need for some new protocols to be set in place, he also recognized the practicality of having the flexibility to change the rules when necessary.


"Try it again," Rick prompted. "A little more."

Aaron growled his frustration as he sat on the edge of the infirmary bed, trying to lift a small weight with his injured leg. All strength in his knee was gone...and he knew it might never come back. Which only added more fuel to an already raging fire against what Victoria had done to him. Even if he could make it back to the Agency now, he'd never be a field agent again.

He yanked at the restraint that kept one wrist secured to the bed post - Hal had done a good job of making sure he couldn't do any harm while left alone in here with Rick and Misty. Aaron was going stir crazy though. Every day it was the same thing. Wake up, move around the tiny cell as much as he could - as much as his leg would allow - eat breakfast if he was hungry, sit and stare at a wall, maybe read a magazine he'd already read a hundred times, be taken to the infirmary, endure a therapy session with Rick while handcuffed to the bed, back in his cell, lunch, a nap, a walk - or hobble, as it were - around for half an hour with Hal as his less-than-friendly escort, back in his cell, supper and then the day was over. That was it. No fresh air. No new faces. No hope. And no Garret. He hadn't seen Garret for over a week now, and no one would tell him where he was. He'd been betrayed and now abandoned into the hands of this completely backwards facility and it didn't feel good.

"Ouch!" He glared at Rick as his knee was poked and prodded. "Why don't you just knock it off? It's not gonna do any good anyway."

Rick sighed. He couldn't imagine anyone more stubborn than Carson or Alec, but Aaron took the cake. "Look, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again - though I don't know why I bother - there's little hope for complete restoration here. But every little bit helps so at least you'll be able to walk."

Aaron tugged at the restraints again. He just wanted out. That was all. Even prison would be better than this. At least he'd be let out for fresh air. He glanced own at himself. He had a t-shirt on they'd provided. He had shorts on they'd provided, and in his cell, there was a full set of clothes besides the one he'd had on his back when being brought in. He got three square meals a day as long as he ate them. And as long as he behaved, they never threatened him with guns. Maybe some people wouldn't think it was so bad here.

As Rick forced his knee to move, he hurled an angry curse at him.

Rick smirked. "You can call me all the names you want, but I'm here to do my job, and I'll do it."

Aaron gritted his teeth and tried to lift the weight again. It was a little better from last week... just a little.

Rick glanced over at Misty. Their patient was complaining slightly less than the day before, wasn't he? It was hard to tell, but Hal hadn't had any trouble escorting him lately, and that had to be an improvement.


"...and this is the infirmary." Kirk gestured through the open door, interested to see they had Aaron out of his cell.

Rick's attention moved to the door, and he bristled slightly. "Can we help you?"

Kirk entered, and motioned for the other three to follow. "Rick...Misty." He nodded to them both. "This is agent Travis, Becc, and detective Sander. I'm just showing them around."

"Ah." Rick straightened from his work, but remained wary. "Well, this is where we patch up our agents and..." He thumbed to Aaron. "Patch up dimwits like him."

Aaron's eyes narrowed and he slid off he bed to stand on one leg, giving his restraint another hefty tug. Rick didn't flinch though and just sighed. He knew he needed to behave. The FBI was moving in whether he liked it or not and that was a fact. "Misty and I are both doctors and we do our best to not only take care of bullet holes and head wounds..." He glanced at Ron. "But also help our agents maintain good health. With the Agency involved, often times traditional medicine from the hospital won't do any good, so we take care of most of our own issues unless the need for hospital care should arise."

Kirk nodded. "I've read the files and you've done a great job through the years. That's why we want to keep this part up and running." He turned to look at Sam, then tossed a glance towards Aaron and back again before motioning her to follow him. He might as well make the tour complete. "Aaron, right?"

Aaron's eyes narrowed. Who was this guy? Why were these people here? These were new faces. They didn't look like Elite officers. He looked at Kirk skeptically before shifting his gaze to Sam. She looked confident, but it was obvious she was learning new information. Were these new Elite recruits? "What of it?"

Kirk withheld his smirk. Aaron was just as bad tempered as always. "I'd like you to meet Sam Travis. You may be seeing a lot of each other in the days ahead."

"Why's that?" He searched Sam's eyes, hunting for answers. Trying to make sense of all this. "Am I being moved?"

"Nope. But somebody's gotta be your babysitter."

Aaron's restrained hand balled into a fist. Seriously? They were saddling him with a woman agent? He despised Hal, but that was better than this. In the very depths of his eyes though was a glimmer of hope that maybe he didn't even recognize himself. Garret's handler had let him outside...maybe he'd get let outside now, too?