Sick Day?

Aaron scoffed as he caught a pickle before it fell out of his burger. "Well, nobody makes Garret do anything he doesn't wanna do. Can't say I'm sorry to hear he's in trouble. 'Bout time." It was bad enough that it was Garret's fault he was here - worse that he'd been running free. At least he was getting what he deserved if he was in trouble.

Polishing off his burger, Aaron hadn't realized how quickly he'd been eating. Maybe he'd been hungrier than he'd thought. He licked some ketchup off his finger and sighed. "You wouldn't wanna leave my cuffs off the rest of the day, would you?" He gave her a rather pleading look. "At least leave one arm free? My arms are cramping up so bad I can hardly move anymore." 


Hearing the door open, Garret didn't move. Hearing Nate's voice though, he opened his eyes and turned his head. "Back so soon?" He wasn't sure if he was teasing or being sarcastic. Maybe a little of both. 

He rolled over and sat up, eyeing the bag Nate had brought. "Anything's better than what Hal feeds me. You know that." In reality, he was awfully grateful. He'd actually missed Laura's cooking last night. He'd missed waking up this morning to the sound of Maggie tromping down the stairs, and he'd missed the scent of breakfast. He really had been spoiled. 

It didn't take but a few minutes to be sitting at the little table with Nate, eating lunch. And it was just as good as anticipated. Garret was quiet for a long while until finally he spoke. "I need you to apologize to Maggie for me." He glanced up at Nate with genuine hurt in his eyes...a look that was rarely seen in his gaze. "I need you to tell her to go to that dance tomorrow night with you. I know she won't want to, but...tell her I'm asking. And just..." He sighed. "Tell her I had some important work to do or something...but...that I would have preferred to be at the dance with her. Can you do that for me?"


"Hey, Misty?" Susanne had buzzed the infirmary phone from her office. "Rick just called. Said he was done checking on Scott at the hospital and was going to take a sick day the rest of the day. Said you'd be able to take care of Aaron and if you needed help you could go to Sam or Hal, or call him at home."


"Sure, I'll ask him." Eli smiled and reached over to give Ryan's shoulder a pat. "And...if it doesn't work out with him... I'll figure out a way to take you myself, okay? It's worth a little vacation for you, I'd say. You deserve it." 

He cocked his head around to see the dog. "Right, Zidan? Your mistress needs a vacation so you can I can be bachelors around here."