That

Garret sighed and let his eyes fall to his keyboard, fiddling with the keys. "Yeah... I probably should just keep my mouth shut then."

He became silent as his mind continued to process what had happened earlier. He felt as though he could relate to what Sam had done. He'd just virtually done the same thing, after all. Of course, Aaron hated him and that did put a slightly different spin on things. But he'd still broken protocol as severely as Sam - maybe even more so since there was a manhunt on for Aaron now. 

It was several minutes before he gave Sapphire another sidelong glance. "If you do what you think is right... but you're punished for it... like Sam... then what's the point in doing what you think is right in the first place?"


Kirk continued to think, nodding absentmindedly at Adison. "I still don't quite understand why they'd be that scared. Barnes wouldn't make them into a science experiment - he'd just want to utilize them better."

Taking a deep breath, he stood again, grabbing his keys. "Come on. I wanna go check something out." Making sure she came with him, he went out to his car, then headed across town. His first stop was Jason's house. There was no garage, and it was obvious Jason's pickup was not there. A quick look in the backyard also proved Trooper was not at home. There wasn't much discussion as they went to Katie's next, again finding an empty house. After that, they checked out a few common places like the park and Mom and Pop's. Kirk tried calling both their cell phones, but received no answer. Nothing really pointed towards anything. Jason and Katie could be anywhere. They could be out of town for the afternoon, or could have just gone up to the lake. Even so, Kirk still had a gnawing feeling in his gut.

Once they were back to the Elite again, he didn't feel any better about the whole thing, but didn't feel like he should go question Reese again. Instead, he went to Ron's cubicle...

"Hey, Ron?" He leaned on the wall and thought for a moment. "Would you... do me a favor?" He kept his voice low. "I, um... I need your detective instincts." He assumed Ron was one of the very few who hadn't yet been told about Jason and Katie. "I'm trying to locate Jason and Katie. Just, um... no questions asked."


Jason kicked off his shoes and laid down on his side so Katie could curl up in front of him, and he put his arm around her, tucking her in close. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted, and just to be able to relax a little now was exactly what he needed. 

Finding her hand to hold, he closed his eyes and sighed deeply as he let his emotions slowly release. He knew he couldn't risk letting them all go at once, but they were building again, and he needed to vent them, lest he have an episode or get sick. This... was now a part of rest - allowing this to happen so that his body could recover and stabilize. There were some unpleasant emotions mixed in, and he was sorry, but he knew he had to release those too, gradually letting them flow to Katie so she could recharge as well. Unfortunately, he knew part of her exhaustion was because he'd been holding back the last couple days.

It took a while at the slow pace, but eventually he could feel himself starting to even out, and as he did, sleep finally overtook him...

...It was a couple hours later when he finally pried open his eyes again. He hadn't moved an inch, and was now a little stiff, but too warm and comfortable to move. At the very least, they'd had enough of a reprieve to allow them both to recover to a certain degree. 

His nostrils picked up the scent of fresh bread and vegetables, and his stomach growled. If he didn't eat soon, his sugars were going to get too low and they'd have a whole other issue to deal with. He kissed the back of Katie's head before giving her a little squeeze. 

Hey... you awake? 

He yawned and stretched out his legs to unkink his knees. He wasn't about to assume these people would be feeding them.

I need to go out and get something to eat. Wanna come along?


Eric slid his arm around Stacy's shoulder, never tiring of feeling her close. Hearing her words, his heart beat a little faster, and he wondered if she noticed. He recalled Ashlee's words from earlier too, making his pulse even quicker. 

"I always wanted to be a dad too," he admitted quietly. "I hadn't expected it to happen quite like this though," he added with a chuckle, before clearing his throat. "Do you... I mean, Ashlee, she um... well, she seems to like this. Us. I just wanna be sure I guess. I mean that she'd like it if we... well, if we..." 

He scratched the back of his head, pushing the brim of his hat so it slid down over his eyes to hide his sheepish expression. "Mm-hmm. That."