Little Faith

At Hope's invitation, Scott hesitated. This... right here... was him wide open and vulnerable. He'd wanted to avoid Hope experiencing his nightmares with him. He'd wanted to avoid putting her through the issues he had on a daily basis. And yet... he was so tired. Maybe... just maybe... it was finally time for him to give up trying to go it alone. 

It took him a couple quiet moments before he shifted around the other way and laid down so his head rested in her lap. He pulled the blanket up close and nestled into her, closing his eyes. Domino hopped up with him to curl up behind his legs and huffed a tired sigh. 

"Thank you," Scott mentioned softly. He didn't know how he'd feel tomorrow, but for tonight... he'd just let Hope be his shelter. And the rest of the night... he slept peacefully all the way through.


Aaron nodded slowly before turning his attention back to his water bottle. For some reason...he believed Sam that she'd see what she could do about tomorrow. At the moment, he had no intention of giving her a bad time, but he knew his word meant nothing at this point. He'd just have to wait and see if she actually got permission. 

He sat alone for a while longer. Just alone. Just quiet. Eventually though, he pulled himself up off the floor and grabbed his crutches to go back upstairs. He didn't bother anyone on his way, and simply returned to his room where he laid on his bed once more. He was quiet the rest of the day, too. Not angry. Simply... quiet. 

The next day wasn't much different. Although he had not left his room during the night. He hadn't wandered the halls, and his bedroom door had remained locked. He was awake though. Lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. His magazines and legos had gone untouched since the day before. And he remained quiet, with little faith in going outside. 


"Yeah, if we don't hurry up, the hot chocolate is gonna start screaming, and then people are gonna think they're going mad and pretty soon the entire ranch will be in a panic!" Hunter waved his arms wildly, accidentally scaring the kittens back into their hole in between hay bales. 

Grinning, he sashayed over to the ladder and disappeared, waiting for Ryan at the bottom. Once to the open barn door, he looked out at the rain. It wasn't coming down too hard at the moment, but there were puddles and mud everywhere. 

He looked to Ryan and gave her a sly look. "Last one to the house has to pour the chocolate." Without waiting, he took off at a run.