Laura smiled and nodded her approval to Maggie. “You’re being a very good friend,” she complimented quietly. “And that’s exactly what he needs right now.” Would he be okay? Could someone actually even recover from what he’d been through? He’d spent over thirty years being shaped, molded, taken advantage of, abused, lied to, made into a robot, a soldier, and cheated out of everything a normal person should have. Friends. Love. Affection. Family. Anything other than hunting down lives and strategically taking people down. There were moments where Garret seemed so human. When he smiled. When he laughed. When he protected Maggie. Then there were moments where he seemed so far away, like a foreigner lost in a land he’d never fit into. Was it too much to hope that today had been a breakthrough? Was it too much to hope that after such a very short time, he was already changing?
All those things Laura wondered as her hand slipped into Nate’s. She loved her family. But perhaps she’d never valued them as much as she did now, seeing Garret who had had none.
Hal followed Sam downstairs, just letting her take the lead. He’d be there if she needed him, but he wasn’t going to interfere unless necessary. He knew he was throwing this on her awfully fast, but only because he thought she could handle it. He also knew she was nervous, and that supported his decision. If she hadn’t been nervous at all, that’s when he would have worried. But she was being cautious and therefore would be on guard around Aaron. Had she been cocky, Hal wouldn’t have let her near Aaron alone. So just keeping his distance, he watched and waited.
Inside the cell, Aaron didn’t move as he heard the door open. Same old routine. Nothing new. Except…he glanced down near his leg where the magazine had landed. He hadn’t had any new reading material in over a week. Despite his desire to spring up and grab it before it was taken away again, he lay still and looked up lazily at Sam. Her comment, though, did make the corner of his mouth twitch. She had a little bit of fire under her. Nice.
He finally sat up and couldn’t wait any longer to pick up the magazine and start thumbing through it. Cars. He liked cars. He ignored the scent of the familiar frozen dinner, hungry but uninterested. Was that a new Mustang model?
His eyes stopped reading and slowly rose at Sam’s mention of something else to eat. What he wouldn’t give for something besides vending machine sandwiches and frozen dinners that tasted like the cardboard boxes they came in. He’d been stubborn with Hal, but Hal was a brick wall. If he could play on Sam’s sympathies, maybe he’d find the opening he was looking for. He stared into her eyes, hunting for any signs of what she was really like. Was that nervousness he sensed? Yet she was here alone. Required or by choice? He wondered.
“Tacos,” he finally stated flatly. Actually, any Mexican food would do, but he wouldn’t press his luck. “You smuggle me in some good tacos, the first thing when I get out of here and have two nickels, drinks are on me.”
In truth, Axel felt miserable and would just as soon act like it. But Jess deserved better than that, especially as she tried to help him the best she could. He kissed her back and gave her a squeeze. “Thanks…you help keep me going, you know that?”
Just looking into her eyes for a few long moments, he finally shifted around on the couch to lie down on his back, bringing Jess in on top of him, and wrapping both arms around her. He really didn’t care about the movie anyway. Besides, he had been a bit offish lately and she deserved his attention. Sliding his good hand up, he cradled her face before combing his fingers gently through her hair, then slipping around behind her head to bring her lips down to meet his. His foot toyed with her leg as he kissed her with gentle passion…the only way he knew how to express how he felt. He didn’t give her enough of this, and he knew it.
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