Leaving

Mick leans his head back against the wall while he thinks. "Yeah...right about now, I think all of us are ready for some peace and quiet. I was ready years ago, and thought I'd gained it." He offers her a solemn but gentle smile. "Of course...as we all know, without this mess, we wouldn't have ended up together again. ...And I'm not sure I would have liked never to have had a reunion. Bad things happened...and I have regrets...if I could go back, I would probably change some of the things I did. But...seeing you again has reminded me of what's really important in life, and I guess I'm not convinced anymore that my life should have stayed the way it was, even though I was happy at the time."

The card game progresses with competitiveness and laughter. Clint throws his hand down with a good-natured moan. "This is just not my night!" He glances at Wendy with a crazed look. "They're cheating, I tell you! Cheating!"



Jason uses his crutches to leave Carter's office and shakes his head at Katie. "No need to call..." He pauses, his instincts knowing the truth. "They'll know we're okay."

Reese looks up from his desk as the two come back through. "I didn't hear any shouting. What did you do? Kill him silently?"

Jason throws him a smirk. "Nice, Reese. No, as a matter of fact, I got what I came for." He holds up the folded papers.

Reese's eyes widen. "Well I'll be. How did you do it?"

"With a bodyguard." Jason gives a wry grin at Reese's confusion. "I'll be in touch." He turns and heads with Katie back into the receptionist's office. "See ya, Susanne."

She turns from her filing cabinet, also showing surprise. "So what happened?"

"Nothing too exciting, but you're still stuck with me. Oh..." Jason nods to the phones. "I'll fix that technical problem on my way out."

Susanne rolls her eyes, giving in to a chuckle. "You never change do you, Hotshot?"

Jason pauses in his route for just a moment. "How about we just say some things never change, eh?" He aims for the door and lets Katie open it for him. Once back on the floor, he lets out a long sigh, satisfied, relieved, but exhausted. He finally replies to Katie's former statement. "Yeah, I'm starving too. I know a nice burger joint about five minutes from here. They should still be open."

As they make their way back down through the organized chaos, he pauses at Laura's desk. "I promised Susanne I'd fix the phones. Do you mind?"

Laura grins and rolls her eyes. She reaches down and hits a couple buttons to end the bogus conference call between all four lines. "All set. You leaving us now?"

"Yep. Heading back to the case."

Laura eyes him skeptically, but resumes her position of withholding questions, knowing him well enough not to ask. "Take it easy, will ya?"

"Always." Jason nods his goodbye and looks to the elevator doors. "Okay, Katie, let's get out of here."

Within minutes, they're back in the car. Jason leans over across Katie to throw his papers in the glove box, then straightens with a sigh. "Well...that's that." He turns to give her a serious smile of appreciation. "Thanks for your help. What you said in there...it meant a lot." He turns the key in the ignition and steers back towards the driveway. Once on the road, it doesn't take long to arrive at the small diner downtown.



Carter stares at the closed door for several moments, then shakes his head, chuckling to himself. He lowers himself into his chair and picks up his phone, waiting.

Austin sits by the fireplace, weary, but too worried to go to bed. The happy chatter behind him beckons him, but he just can't clear his mind enough to relax or enjoy anything right now. His cellphone startles him and he answers quickly. "Yeah?"

"It's me."

Austin's hope takes a flying leap. "Did you find them?"

"They're fine."

"What do you mean? Where are they?"

"They're safe and they should be back home by tomorrow night."

Austin frowns in bewilderment. "But what's going on? Where did they go? How did you find them? Who found them?"

"The important thing is that you have two fine young people working on this case. It's not my place to explain the details."

"But Carter!"

"Get some rest, Austin. Jason and Katie are safe."

Austin desperately fishes for more information. "But I need to know what..."

Carter interrupts him. "Tell Rosetta her niece is coming home too, so she can stop worrying. I'll be in touch."

Click

Austin groans and hangs up the phone. His confusion has been compounded. But he has to trust his father that Jason and Katie really are safe. What on earth happened - he has no idea. But they're on their way home, and that's what really mattered at this point.
He stands up to go find Rosetta.