Concentration

Feeling Ryan's hand on his arm, Hunter just relaxed as she did, and before he knew it, he'd drifted off to sleep again. Five minutes turned into longer, and when he opened his eyes again, a half hour had gone by. Squinting at the clock, he sighed. As much as he'd like to sleep another couple hours, he knew they had to get a move on. 

"Hey..." He nudged her legs with his foot. "I hear a certain ranch calling." Slipping his arm out and untangling his legs from hers, he rolled onto his back and stretched. Usually, he couldn't wait to get out of a hotel. This morning, his body didn't want to get up. 

"Okay," he mumbled. "I'm up... really." His eyes fell shut again. "Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, when I open my eyes, I'll be dressed. What do you think?" 


Just walking to Sapphire's cubicle for the morning, Garret's eyebrows rose at Sam. "Okay." He nodded. "I'll be here." What had happened now? Was Aaron still causing trouble? It wouldn't surprise him, but he wished the younger man would cool his jets and open his eyes to what was really going on. 


Just getting to the bedroom, JT stopped as Sam approached. Hearing about Aaron, he cringed a little, but was relieved when Sam offered to stick around. He could handle himself okay with the average Joe, but in here, with someone from the Agency, he'd be torn to pieces. He walked confidently, but on the inside he knew good and well that bum knee or not, he'd be no match for Aaron. "Actually...yeah. If you wanna stick around, I think that would be good."

Aaron was awake and sitting up in bed when the door opened. He hadn't heard much from anyone after his grouchiness yesterday. He'd half expected JT not to come back and Sam to ignore him. But... there they both were. He let his magazine flop down as he looked up at them both skeptically. On his nightstand was his latest lego creation - he'd combined the sets to make his own vehicle, which was actually quite impressive.

JT gave him a ridiculously happy smile. "Good morning, Sunshine. Ready to work that knee?" Being cursed by Aaron did nothing to faze him as he grabbed the crutches. "Come on. I want you in the infirmary today so we can take a closer look." 

Aaron was tempted to argue, but in reality...he just wanted to get better. And despite his loathing of these people...he knew the fastest way to recover was to obey the doctor's orders. He didn't say anything more, but simply obeyed. Hobbling out of the room and next door, he then sat on the table as JT examined his knee. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Aaron leaned back on his arms and let his eyes concentrate on Sam. Why hadn't she given up yet? Was it just because this was her job? She should be grouchier. Why wasn't she? Was she stronger than he'd anticipated? What really made her tick? He couldn't help that she was becoming more and more fascinating. 

As pain shot through his knee with something JT did, Aaron's other leg automatically came up to kick him. Thankfully JT was paying attention and grabbed his food midair before it reached him. "Try that again and I'll show you what real pain is," he reprimanded. 

In all honesty, Aaron really hadn't meant to kick out - it was just a protective reflex, but he scowled at JT anyway. "Quit yanking my leg around and I won't feel like kicking you," he retorted. 

JT just rolled his eyes. "Come on. Upsie-daisy. I wanna see how much weight you can handle."

"But Rick said-"

"Rick's gone." JT wasn't disrespecting Rick's plan, but he had to make his own decisions - Aaron was in his hands now. 

Taking a slow walk around the room was agonizing, but in the end, JT was pleased, and had Aaron go back to his room with more ice. He caught Sam outside in the hall again after closing the door. "He's probably going to complain about pain." He motioned her back to the infirmary and over to one of the cabinets where he showed her a particular bottle on the shelf. "This is what I'm giving him, but no more than two a day. So if he gets cranky in the afternoon, you can give him one since I just let him have one now. Otherwise... I think I'm done for the day and I gotta scoot back to the hospital."