Delightful

Being teased even more by Ryan, Hunter's eyes sparkled through his laughter-induced tears. "You are so mean!" As more cards were flung in his direction, he ducked back below the table again. 

Dylan was still laughing too hard to do anything, as was Jeff, who was now hiding his face in his hands, unable to stop. Clint was just enjoying the whole scene, completely unaware until a bowlful of popcorn was dumped all over him. With wide eyes, he looked up at Ryan, about to tease her mercilessly, but she was laughing so hard, all he could do was keep right on laughing along with her. 

Hunter tried to pick up the cards from the floor, crawling under the table to get some of them. He managed to collect them all, hitting his head at least twice on the table, which apparently was quite funny from the sound of more laughter. 

By the time he emerged again to deposit the rest of the cards into the pile, Jade was hiding her face in Dan's chest, Jeff was sprawled out in his chair, about ready to slide to the floor, and Clint was wearing a popcorn bowl on his head. Flopping back into his chair, breathless, Hunter's laughter continued as well, but was dying down enough for him to gain control again. "Dylan!" he barked. "Quit fooling around and shuffle these cards!"

Dylan nodded and wiped his eyes. "Right, right. Sorry. Got a little distracted there." He hiccuped, which made Jade start giggling again. Shooting her a look, he pointed a finger at her. "Stop it... Or we'll never-" He hiccuped again. "-get this game going."

She remained leaning on Dan as she clamped a hand over her mouth.

Hunter took a deep breath and wiped his eyes again. His face hurt, his sides hurt, and his bottom hurt just a bit too. But his smile was still pasted on his lips as he looked over at Ryan. Her laugh was a delightful laugh, and he knew...this had been good. 

Clint left the bowl on his head, and took a piece of popcorn from his shoulder to eat it, then found another on his lap and ate that one too. "Thanks for the snack, Ryan," he teased. "Wendy never lets me wear my food at home."


Half-watching the ridiculous scene behind them, just out of the corner of his eye, Travis smirked a little. It sounded like they were having fun - and he didn't know why Dylan laughing was so significant to Ashlee - but he was too comfortable to go and find out what was going on. 

Tightening his grip a little, he brought her back down to his chest, and sighed before closing his eyes. "You're nice and warm," he mused. "We may have to make a habit out of this."


Was Sapphire right? Would it get easier? Garret couldn't help but be skeptical. A lot of things were going well right now. He was still living at Nate's and it was far less awkward. Maggie still loved him. He was able to come in here and work and get paid for it too. Not as many people were quite as scared of him. But even with all that... Living at Nate's was still hard - family was still hard - thinking of his own family was even harder. Although he was coming here to work, he was still only allowed limited access to focus on just one case. And people were only okay around him if he didn't make any sudden moves. 

If he were in the agency, he would feel proud that people were scared of him. He'd use that to support his authority, and he'd be able to easily take control because of that fear. But here... fear was bad. All it did was keep him an outsider. 

Realizing he'd paused in a stare with his fingers hovering over the keyboard, he blinked and tried to get back to work. 

"Hey, Sapphire! Do you..." Gage's voice trailed off as he skirted around the cubical corner just to find Garret sitting there. He had some papers in his hand he'd tried to keep safe all the way here this morning. 

He'd heard all about Garret being here. He knew good and well who he was, and could recall more than once when their paths has crossed briefly in the Agency. Garret's footprint was everywhere. But since he'd shown up here, Gage had yet to be face-to-face with him...until now. 

"Um...." His eyes darted back to Sapphire. His face had turned slightly pale. "I just... wondered if you... had an envelope."

Garret remained seated and looked up at Gage as he stammered. Case in point. Fear was everywhere. 

Gage tried to ignore Garret, but it was impossible. "I... I didn't mean to interrupt." He'd just wanted to get something mailed before going to work and if Sapphire had an envelope it would save him that many pennies.