Residence

Reese respected Nate and kept silent as he talked. Listening with honest intent, he took in every word, mulling over every single piece in his mind. His heart ached, knowing how Garret had had no choice in the Agency. His life had to have been a virtual nightmare. Hearing about how he had been at the Driers’ house, Reese’s soul hurt even more. Rehabilitation was working. Garret was finding a place. He’d seen firsthand how Garret had protected Maggie – he knew Nate was telling the truth in all this – he had no doubt.

As Nate moved on to the current situation, Reese picked up and scanned the note from Scott. He trusted Nate. But he also knew Scott very well. Nate said Garret was innocent. But Scott would never have done something like this…would he? His eyes rose to meet Nate’s again. Yes, Garret was in that cell again. Yes, things weren’t quite as intended. Yes, he was sure it was hard for Garret, and sometimes the Elite’s ways must seem harsh, when they were trying to be the opposite of the Agency. But in the end…there was a bigger picture here. There was more at stake than just Garret’s own personal life. 

Reese leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk, and pursed his lips grimly. “Nate…I believe…that you believe…that Garret is worthy of our trust. I know things have been rough, but seeing how Garret has changed and has integrated into your family proves that you were the right man for the job. I’m sorry he has gone through what he has with the Agency and Victoria, and finding his family. In some ways, that’s got to be a living hell.” He took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “But there are two things I cannot ignore right now. One…I have three FBI agents in this building. There is no way I can allow Garret to walk away without consequence. I do that, it goes in Kirk’s weekly report, and the FBI comes in here to lower the boom. Or worse yet, to take Garret themselves.” As much as he hated it, it was the truth. Until things settled down, the fine line remained.

“And number two…I know that you trust Garret to be telling the truth. But there is no way that I can believe Scott would actually write this note of his own free will, let alone blackmail Garret.” Reese shook his head slowly. “I…I just can’t…even imagine Scott having that kind of nerve, let alone that kind of cruelty. I mean…this is Scott we’re talking about. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. To use Garret’s love for Victoria against him is...it just isn’t possible.” 

He looked at Nate with apology. There was only so much he could do here. “At the very least…there’s more to the story. And I…cannot…in good conscience…let Garret go free right now.” He hated saying it. He hated this whole thing. But he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. “If the FBI had their way, they would have sent Garret to prison weeks ago. I’m not willing to do that. He’s come too far to be put behind bars…I’m not going to let that happen…unless we find he truly had ill-intent today.”

There wasn’t much more he could say. “Hopefully Scott will recover. And when he does, we can hear his story.” Oh how he hoped Scott would be alright. Even that might be wishful thinking at this point, which was heart wrenching. “Until then…Garret resumes residence in his downstairs cell.” 


“Scott is indeed in a coma,” JT confirmed. He stood in the hospital hall with Rick, Hope and Dalton after numerous tests on Scott. Normally it would take much, much longer to review results, but there was no way he was letting this situation wait – not when it was the Elite and the Agency was involved.

“There is brain activity, which is good,” he assured. “Actually, there’s more activity than normal…which is probably related to the assimilation, although I know so little about it, that it would be hard to gauge.”

Rick ran a weary hand over his face. “Other than that?”

JT shook his head. “Honestly…there’s not a whole lot more I can see. There is some slight swelling in his brain, but nothing that’s endangering him at this point. Hopefully that will go down on its own. If not…well, we’ll face that later. Right now though…we just respect that his body shut down in an attempt to recover from the trauma. It…could be hours…days…weeks… there’s really no telling until his body is ready to wake up.”

Rick nodded. He understood. “Can we see him?”

“Of course.” JT motioned to the nearby room. “Talk to him,” he encouraged. “It can do wonders.”