Most Wonderful

Scott's eyelids slowly lifted, his good eye taking in the hazy surroundings. For a moment, he was completely lost. A wet nose sniffed around his face and he grimaced, putting a hand between him and Domino's affections. "What?" he mumbled. Stretching, he realized he was not in his own bed at all. He was on his couch. No, not his couch. Hope's couch. Wait, what? His nose picked up the scent of coffee, and he could hear the light rattle of dishes. He blinked and finally brought the room into focus. The last thing he remembered was going out to the back deck with a glass of iced tea after supper.

Pulling himself up to sit, he rubbed his face and yawned. He felt... rested. His body was sore, but only because he'd hardly moved all night long. And he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept well enough for that. He hadn't even had one nightmare. That alone was enough to almost bring tears to the surface. He hadn't felt this good in a very, very long time.

He finally got to his feet and went straight to the bathroom to clean up a little before he wandered to the kitchen. Seeing Hope at the counter, he paused a moment before coming up behind her and slipping his arms around her waist to rest his chin on her shoulder. "You... are the most wonderful person I know," he greeted softly. He slid a little further over her shoulder to kiss her cheek. "You chased my nightmares away."


Hal gasped and put his hands up but that did little to stop the water and bubbles. He looked down at his wet shirt, then back up at Sam again. "Oh... oh, you're in for it now." He lunged for the sink to grab a new handful of bubbles, spun around and threw them at Sam. He grinned as his eyes twinkled. "Neighbors are gone for the week," he added. 

That's all it took for the fight to be on. Bubbles, water, slipping and sliding, the kitchen became a war zone. Losing himself in the moment, Hal's walls came down as he simply played, ducking behind chairs and flinging more bubbles.


Clint swallowed hard and frowned. He wasn't sure what he'd expected from Wes, but that wasn't it. He knew good and well that Wes had another job he needed to do - so why was he in here? A week ago, Clint had been miserable, but at least in charge. Now he was just miserable. 

He turned to go towards the tractor. "Got a kid coming tomorrow who wants to know mechanics," he informed. If Wes was back in charge, then the right thing was to just swallow his pride and be the assistant again. He probably wouldn't stick around after he was done with Joe anyway. 

Coming up to the tractor, he patted it as if it were a living creature. "Why are you back in here, hmm?" He sighed. "Sometimes I think you just want the attention." He grabbed a rag and a wrench, already having a good idea where to start. 


Jade grinned and shrugged at Katie's question. "Great!" She paused. "Good... well, kinda different... but good. Fine." She bit her lip. Things had been tense. Everything from Rosalyn leaving to Jim's blindness to the weird tension with Dylan and Travis, and now to Clint's offish behavior. "I'm glad you're here," she concluded. 

Jason pulled their bags from the back and handed one off to Rick, then swung one at Katie, purposely hitting her with it, while grinning. "Carry your own bags," he teased. 

Seeing how they interacted, Jade quirked an eyebrow. They seemed awfully friendly. "Few people are in the main house," she mentioned. "Kids are anyway. Mom's watching Chase and Dara to give Wendy a break, and I've been trying to entertain BJ and Xanders kids for a while." 

Jason's eyebrows rose higher. It did seem like things were different around here. "How about my mom?"

"Oh yeah, I saw her just a bit ago. Kaylee was being a pickle, so she took her home. And Wes... no idea."

"Okay." Jason shouldered his backpack and took a step forward, right as a wave of dizziness hit. He reached out to the truck to steady himself, and Rick was right there. 

"You alright?"

"Mm-hmm..." Jason closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm good."

Jade's expression turned to worry. "What's... really going on here, guys?"

"We'll explain in a bit." Jason took a deep breath and glanced at Katie. "How about you taking the lead?" He tried to hide the fact that he was leaning on Rick now.