Unacceptable

Aaron gave a short laugh, picturing Sam with a sword. He pondered what she said about space, and would have thought about it more had a potato chip not landed on him. He blinked and looked up at it, cross-eyed. Had she seriously just done that? Reaching up, he took his thumb and middle finger and flicked it back over to her. 

Her words stirred a strange feeling deep down, and he put his eyes back on the sky as he grew eerily quiet. Had he allowed people to take away the parts of him that had made him...him? Had he allowed himself to be stripped of his true identity? He had feared brainwashing from the Elite... but... had the Agency done just that? Had his inner thoughts and feelings in his heart been taken away? Had he allowed life, even as a child, to take away what made him happy? 

He turned his head again to look at Sam once more. And for the longest time, he simply studied her, his expression neutral. "I don't think you need a sword," he mentioned quietly. He wasn't sure anything could make her more confusingly fascinating than she already was. Looking back up at the sky, he spotted a meteor just seconds later before it quickly burned out in the atmosphere. As a child, he'd bought into making a wish. But he'd soon discovered that wishing did nothing but bring disappointment. 

All of a sudden, he realized that for the first time, his knee didn't hurt. He'd actually relaxed enough that the tension in his leg was gone. But along with that came the realization that relaxing meant vulnerability. And vulnerability was dangerous. He sat up and took another swig of pop, irritated with himself for getting in this position. What was he thinking? He'd let his guard down entirely, and that was unacceptable. 

He opened opened his mouth to suggest going back inside, but as he looked over his shoulder at Sam, the words never made it to the surface. It was ridiculous to trust her, but... He turned back around and looked down at his knee. It hurt again. 

"Does anybody know you're up here?" he eventually questioned. He couldn't imagine Hal letting her do this, at least without throwing a fit.


Axel just smiled and gave Ryan's shoulder a pat as he walked by to go find the tool he needed. He hoped the spark was back for good. It was time. None of the guys ever would have complained or given her a bad time or thought less of her, but it was so good just to see her even smile again. 


The table grew quiet, and Russ shrunk back a little, feeling bad for having brought up the subject of Kip. They'd all just been worried was all. "I'm sure he's fine," he mentioned softly.

Kyle sighed. "Don't blame yourself, Karla. Kip made his own choices - there was nothing anyone could have done. You weren't hard on him. You just... needed to take care of yourself... and that's okay." He ducked his head a little until he could see Karl's face and he smiled. 

Russ nudged her with his arm. "Sorry. We just hadn't heard from him was all. He hasn't ever answered Erik's calls so I just thought maybe you'd heard something." For all they knew, he could be in town, or clear across the country by now. 

"So tell us about Levi." Theo grinned as he changed the subject. "Seems like a nice guy. What exactly is your job?"