The room was silent after Nate left, as no one was quite sure how to react after all that. It was rare to see Nate so upset, let alone talk to Reese as he had, so everyone was just a bit surprised. Reese sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I don't know what to do," he admitted, frustrated.
"So no one even caught a glimpse of the second shooter?" Pete questioned. He looked to Chance. "You were on the north end. Nothing?"
Chance shook his head. "Nope. Didn't see a thing. Of course I wasn't looking for anything that direction."
Reese held up his hand. "Let's...just call it, okay? Take care of the body. If we need to form another plan, you'll be notified. Thanks for all your hard work and keeping Jason safe."
Kirk wandered out with everyone else, still quiet until he'd reached Nate's cubicle. "Quite the speech," he mused casually. "You think the Agency shot their own man?"
JT looked over the map and other papers and sighed. Was it a wild goose chase? Had Gunner left this time, intent on not being found? If that were the case, would they really even find him?
"Yeah...yeah, we can go now."
The next couple hours were spent driving from one place to another, finding absolutely no signs of Gunner. No one had seen him. A phone call from Con, finally, confirmed he knew nothing either but would do his own hunting.
Eventually, JT parked the car...they were back at Gunner's apartment. He looked over at his niece with very little hope on his face. "I think maybe we should call it a day, Bree."
"Garret?" Laura called from the kitchen as she put several grocery sacks in the table. "Want any lunch?"
Garret had been so intent at the computer that he hadn't heard the front door, and now jumped. Exiting the browser quickly - too quickly - he got up from the desk and came out of the office. Seeing Laura struggling with more bags at the door, he picked up the pace and met her to help.
"Oh thanks," she breathed. "Nate always gives me a bad time because I won't take more trips. But I tell him I'm just being most efficient."
Garret smirked a little but didn't comment. He agreed with Nate.
Getting everything into the kitchen, Laura hunted down a couple particular sacks and handed them to Garret. "Here. These are for you. Feel free to use the dresser in your room."
Garret had little choice but to take the sacks, though very confused. First, why was she giving him anything? And second, it wasn't his bedroom, it was their spare room. He dared a glance in one bag. Jeans? The other bag. Shirts?
Seeing his confusion, Laura smiled and just started putting food away. "They're not new. Well, a few personal items are, but I'm hoping it all at least fits okay."
Garret blinked. "But...I..."
"What?" She shrugged. "I got tired of doing so much laundry since you only have two sets of clothes. Now go put all that in your room where it belongs before I accidentally put it in the fridge."
She'd bought clothes? For him? He remained where he was, still too taken aback to respond.
"Oh. Oops." Laura pulled out a package of new socks from another bag. "See? Woulda ended up with the broccoli." She put it in his sack before she took his arm and physically turned him towards the hall. "Dresser. You know I keep a neat house."
Garret finally headed to the bedroom, still speechless. Once there, he sank down on the bed and slowly looked through the clothes. Laura had done a good job of picking out some plain t-shirts, a couple plain collared shirts and a hoodie. She'd picked out several pairs of jeans, too, and had somehow picked up on his tastes. These were...this was...it...
...A while later, when Laura realized Garret hadn't returned, she went to check on him. Cautiously peeking into the bedroom, she caught sight of him curled up on the bed, the clothes next to him instead of being put away yet. And she let him be.
Taking care of Brian, making a little lunch, then doing a bit of cleaning, Laura went about her day as usual. Eventually she had time to check her email, and went into the office to use the computer. That was funny...she hadn't left the browser application open earlier. Had Garret...? Nah. But her finger hovered over her mouse. Would it be bad if she checked the browser history? She didn't expect anything bad, she just...wondered...
By afternoon, the house was quiet, and Laura was keeping an eye on the clock. Garret had been silent the rest of the day, though she wasn't surprised. Almost drifting to sleep on the couch, a sudden feeling that she wasn't alone woke her.
Garret had come into the living room. Wearing his ball cap, shoes, and new hoodie, it was obvious he was planning to go out. "Um...you wanna tell me how to get to Maggie's school?"
Laura's eyebrows rose. He was really going to go pick her up? She hadn't thought he'd do it. "Of course. I'll draw you a quick map."
Garret hadn't planned on going. But after today...it just...felt like what he should do.
It wasn't much later that Garret was driving through town, easily finding his way to the school. Pulling up to the curb, he parked and waited, feeling very much like he didn't belong here...at all. But he was here...for Maggie.
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