So do I

Hal snickered and shook his head. "You with a baseball bat... could be... scary." He held up his hands. "I don't think I'd want to mess with you."

He sighed and looked at the clock as his stomach growled. "I think I'm gonna go grab some awesome, greasy drive-thru lunch. Want anything?"


Garret rolled his eyes and remained seated on the floor. It really was stupid. There was no reason for Nate to suffer with him. He'd done nothing wrong. This was Garret's mess, not his. Why should he make this sacrifice when he didn't have to? 

His eyes lowered to the floor. No one ever put themselves in a position like this for him. Life was about coming in first... winning... holding the upper hand... surviving. Yet Nate was allowing himself to be dragged down with him...on principle? Why was he so important to Nate? Was this what friends did? Or family? Both? 

On one hand, it was humbling. Warm. On the other hand, it hurt. He wasn't sure why, but...it hurt...seeing Nate like this. Seeing him stuck down here, accepting a punishment that shouldn't be his. An injustice was being done here, and he didn't like it. He didn't like seeing Nate suffer for something he hadn't done. He was an innocent. Just like the people Garret had refused to keep killing...

...The next couple hours dragged on in dull silence. Neither of them had had lunch, but it seemed they were going ignored. No surprise. Garret was sure that Reese - or anyone - didn't know what to do with this whole thing since Nate was down here with him. They could leave him here to rot, but they couldn't leave one of their own, which meant someone would show up sooner or later.

The sound of the electronic lock made Garret look up from where he still sat on the floor, having not moved since being put in here. Reese? Hal? His eyebrows rose when he saw who it really was.

Laura opened the door, her face gaining a pained look as she saw her husband sitting on the cot. Reese had told her what had happened, and she just couldn't believe what was going on. Scott... Garret... Nate... it was all one big mess. She glanced over her shoulder at Pete and gave him a nod. "I don't think you need to stay."

"You sure?" Pete was just a bit skeptical. 

"I'm sure." Laura gave him a more stern look. 

Pete backed off, but wasn't planning on leaving. "Okay. But I'm waiting by the stairs."

Laura sighed but didn't argue. Turning back to the cell, she stepped inside and folded her arms, looking between the two men before shaking her head. "What am I going to do with you two?" 

Garret looked up at her dimly. "Well I can tell you one thing you can do. Get your husband out of here. There's no point in both of us going down with the ship."

Laura pursed her lips in thought before coming closer and easing down to sit next to Nate. She put a hand on his leg to give it a loving pat. "Reese told me what you were doing. But is it really going to do any good?" She wasn't against him fighting for what he felt was right, and though still confused about the details, she honestly didn't think Garret was guilty here. But was Nate locking himself up really the answer? "He has a point," she continued softly. "What if it takes Scott weeks to wake up?  Are you just going to stay in here that entire time?" It wasn't that she didn't care about Garret...but she was scared, not knowing how long this would last. "I know Garret needs you." Her voice grew even quieter. "But so do I. And Maggie. And Brian."


Eli cocked his head at Ryan. Was she actually taking interest in something? "I...think it's possible." He nodded. "I've heard about that ranch." Actually, he knew quite a bit about it through his connection with the Elite. But Ryan didn't even know about that - so far, Scarlet was the only one privileged enough to share that information, although he was riding Reese to get approval to let Ryan in, too. 

"It's run by a couple families - although they're connected by marriage. They've all dealt with a lot of different people... the one woman who started it all is a counselor, and everyone else has had some education in that area, and experience, too. It sounds like - and Hunter could probably confirm this - that they've had to shift from an open ranch and focus more on the function of the ranch itself, but... sounds like Hunter's got an 'in'." He paused and studied Ryan's face. "Are you...interested in it?"