Would They?

I'm sure they wouldn't. We both should probably rest a while.

Sarah sensed the awkwardness, and motioned them to follow her. "Come. Let me show you the house so you know where to go, then you can get settled in." 

As they neared the hall, the three dogs were wriggling, almost bursting with excitement. Jed chuckled and nodded to them. "Alright, you guys. Say hello." 

The dogs raced forward with excited whimpers, jumping up on Katie and Jason's legs, and looking for their hands to lick. "Okay, okay," Jed chided. "Don't knock them over." He grinned at Katie and Jason. "This is Toto, Dorothy and Rin... Tin Tin Man." 

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Mr. Genius here named that one." She kept on walking towards the open basement door. "Right down here," she directed, leading them downstairs. It wasn't a huge space, but it was clean and welcoming. "I'm sure you have more things in your car - you can bring in whatever you want. The mini fridge down here has some bottles of water in it - but upstairs there's some ice tea an pop too. You just help yourselves to whatever you want." 

Jed helped bring in their bags, and it wasn't long before Jason and Katie were alone, left to rest. Jason sank down on the couch, noting it was long enough for him to stretch out on. Just sitting, he put his head back and closed his eyes. "I'll take the couch tonight," he mentioned tiredly. "You take the bed in the bedroom." 

For a nap though... 

A grin creased his lips as his emotions shifted to something a little more playful. 

Join me?


"No..." Kirk shook his head. "I had wanted to wait until afternoon before starting another argument with him." He sighed. Up until recently, he and Reese had been getting along fairly well - in spite of their differences. Then with the whole Aaron thing, then this... he was back to wondering if this would ever really work. He wasn't as uptight as he'd been yesterday, but he was still feeling the stress, and it was making him tired.

Looking back to Adison, he smirked. "Guess I should go find out though. I need to stay on top of this - it's too important not to." He finally got to his feet and left to go to Reese's office. He wasn't gone very long, and he'd returned to flop back down in his chair. "Well... they haven't called in, but Reese said, and I quote, 'I trust them to take care of themselves. If we need them, I'll call them.'" Kirk frowned. "He said otherwise, he would leave them be because of their whole... issue... thing."

He searched Adison's eyes for a moment. "Call me paranoid but something just feels... off. If he was a suspect I was interrogating, I'd say he was hiding something. But what? I mean, it's not like Jason and Katie would go AWOL over this..." His voice trailed off until he dared finish his thought. "Would they?"


Garret sank down in his chair inside Saphire's cubicle. He'd taken his time getting back from his "lunch break" and had avoided going by way of Nate, heading straight to Sapphire where he needed to help her with more research anyway. His mind wasn't exactly on task though. 

Rolling forward to the laptop they let him use, he opened it, but sighed, then gave Sapphire a sidelong glance. "So since... I'm not an Elite agent... technically I can't get suspended, right?"


"Of course!" Eric watched Stacy walk away before finally turning to go inside his bunk. Sitting on the edge of his bed a few minutes later, his eyes came to rest on his nightstand drawer. What was inside had been sitting there for close to a month now. His hands got clammy just thinking about it. This whole thing with Stacy was so different than what he'd experienced before. With Dana, it had been a whirlwind. He'd been completely swept up in her affections. He'd been totally taken with her and what he thought was genuine love. It had happened fast and he'd fallen hard. With Stacy... his feelings had grown over a longer length of time. There was no whirlwind. No urgency. No blindness to reality. Yet his heart had never felt this full. He had loved Dana and would have stayed with her forever. But the feelings he had for Stacy now were... more real. 

Shaking all thoughts from his head, he finally got up and headed for the shower. He'd figure it all out... right?

...The day moved into evening, and the ranch was peaceful. Supper was no less good than usual, and the room was full of smiles and chatter. It was several hours later though, when finally all chores were done, evening tasks were finished, and babies were down for the night. And Eric finally got his walk with Stacy. He was now quite sore from earlier, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. 

Walking - slowly - behind the barns in the soft grass, he held Stacy's hand, just watching the fireflies and feeling the cool breeze. Every once in a while, he'd glanced down at her from under the brim of his hat, simply watching as the moonlight danced along her face. And he'd give her hand a squeeze. 

Coming up on a pasture fence, he stopped to lean on the top rail, and looked out into the peaceful dark. "You know... what you said earlier..." He turned to look at her again. "About sticking around here, I..." He swallowed hard. "Well it... I mean... it meant a lot to me. Not everybody would wanna stay here, let alone with me and, I just..." He bit his lip. There was that lurch in his stomach again. "Well you and Ash are... you're as much my family as the twins are."