Ten Times Faster

Jason chuckled as Katie flopped down beside him, and turned to kiss the top of her head. 

Mm... well if you're not awake physically, you're walking in your sleep, and that's a new one for you. 

He slipped his arm around her and gave her shoulder a teasing tickle. "Sleep okay? I slept like a rock." He looked up as Rosetta joined them and smiled as they were given some food. "Mm... now that smells good." It was hard to process the thought that they were so close to never coming here again and enjoying their families like this. 

Mick wandered in, his own plate in hand as he listened in on Rosetta's conversation. Even though Jeff was okay, he didn't like giving Katie this kind of news. 

Hearing about Jeff, then feeling a shift in Katie's emotions, Jason set a hand on her knee. 

Hey... it's okay... your dad's okay... this isn't your fault.

Mick came closer and set his plate down before sitting on the edge of the coffee table. "Your dad is going to be just fine," he assured Katie, supporting what Rosetta had just told her. "He's not recovering quite as quickly as hoped, so Angel tacked on an extra week of no work in the barn, but he's been able to get out and about for short amounts of time, so you two should be able to spend some quality time together." He offered her a smile. "He's gonna be absolutely thrilled to see you - that alone is gonna help him recover probably ten times faster." 


Out in his bunkhouse, Jeff sighed as he looked at the clock. Besides his nerves being shot and his worry not reducing, he was also bored out of his mind. His body had woken up early, in time for chores, but unless he wanted to be beat over the head with a shovel by Angel, he knew he had to stay here at least until breakfast. Although the last few days, someone had been bringing him his morning meal so he didn't have to get out and about to early. 

He finally got up and cleaned up, got dressed, made his bed, then returned to lay on top of the bedspread and flip on his television to some random show that was of little interest. And again, he said a prayer that Katie and Jason were okay.


Jett numbly took the plate and glass from Destiny, though he remained silent as he sank down in the corner of the couch.

Zan gave her a sorry sort of smile - he wished Jett was in a better mood, although he couldn't tell if it was plain grouchiness because he didn't feel good, or if it was more than that. His gut said it was something more.

In reality, Jett felt totally unworthy of their attention. He stared at the toast for a few minutes before finally nibbling at it. He really was hungry and just didn't want to be sick again. "Thank you," he finally mumbled.

Zan nodded to Destiny that they could stay a bit, and he chose a chair to sit in. "So... Ronnie gonna show up any second?"

Jett shook his head. "I think he's gonna be out late."

"Mm... thought any more about those apartments to look at?"

Jett shrugged.

Zan threw Destiny a smirk. If they were gonna get Jett out of this rut, they were gonna have to push him the entire way. "Well, how big a place you need? How much of this stuff is yours?"

Jett took a second to sip some of the soda before he shook his head again. "Just what's in my bedroom."

Zan's eyebrows rose. "All this crap is Ronnie's? I hope he pays more rent than you."

"No... we go halves."

"Oh, for Pete's..." Zan sighed. "We definitely need to find you another place."

Jett nibbled a little more, trying hard to get the toast down. "You guys didn't need to come you know... I woulda been fine."

"Maybe... but what kind of friends would we be if we just left you to wallow?"

Jett leaned his head into the couch cushion and closed his eyes. It was the only way to hide the fact that he was fighting back tears again. Nobody had ever been like this before... why were they? What made them different? He didn't deserve any of this.

Zan looked to Destiny again. He really didn't know what else to do. It was obvious Jett was a mess, but what more could they do for him?


"Ooh, blueprints, yes." Kirk nodded with enthusiasm. "We need to find somebody who can redo these blueprints so they still look real, but without the basement layout. Brilliant." He leaned over to kiss Adison's cheek before he jotted down a note. 

"As for training, really, we just need to make sure everyone has so many hours at the shooting range, that they go through an official safety course - I can set something up with the local police department for that. Then they'll have written tests about laws, etc. The FBI wants the Elite to prove that their agents are competent and know the law so they can make educated arrests without getting anyone into trouble once it goes to court. So far the Elite has done okay, but there have been enough questions about their methods that it's risked a handful of criminals getting off the hook because of mistrials." He sighed. "No one is gonna want to go through all this, let alone at such a fast pace, but I really don't see a way around it. Granted... it's going to be harder for some."

He paused as he thought of a few people. "It means Scott would need target range time. It means Ty will have to pass tests and I'm not sure he can do it. He's smart, but he's been illiterate right up until recently. Even people like Hope are going to need to go through this - everyone has to be up to par. Those with past law enforcement experience - like Con - they won't need to do as much. You, me and Sam are obviously fine and so is Ron. But... if everyone really wants this badly enough... maybe they'll at least try." 

He finally took a piece of pizza. "We're gonna need to visit the building again. See what can be done about converting the basement into whatever we don't want the FBI knowing about. We may need someone to help with some building projects to even make the other floors look like they match the blueprints, but perhaps there could be some extra rooms created that wouldn't be obvious to visitors."