Impossible

Reese bids Lockheart farewell, and watches her leave the café. He turns to Nate. “Well…I guess we head back to TJY. I’m assuming Katie’s well taken care of with her friend…and I need to get Carson busy with something he gets us all into trouble. Anything you need before we go?”


Carson is taken a little off guard by Misty’s hand in his, but automatically tightens his fingers around hers.

Rick’s eyes widen slightly at her words, still confused. “A cure, but how…” He sighs as he sees her drifting to sleep, and leans down to make sure she’s okay. He nods, satisfied at least with that much. “She’s relaxed,” he muses. “I’ll hold off on doing anything more for now…I don’t want what I have to counteract with whatever she’s got in her. We let her sleep for now. Though I’m really curious as to what she’s been up to.” He fingers the vial Carson had retrieved from Misty’s bag. “I wonder what this stuff is…”

Shaking his head, he goes back to the counter, giving in to the fact that there’s simply nothing more he can do. “Stay with her, Carson. Keep that cold cloth on her head and if anything changes, tell me.”


Jen returns Katie’s hug. “Oh, I’m so glad you came. I’m sorry you’re having a rough time…” She grows a little more serious. “I can imagine.”

She shrugs a little. “I’m alright…had a little setback the other day, but I’m forging ahead as always.” She grins. “Come on, lets go in the living room.”

The next couple hours are spent chatting, laughing, and discussing more serious issues. Jen finally confides in Katie what Kyle had already revealed, and she asks more about Jason, getting a better grasp on just what was happening there.

By evening, Kyle offers to take Katie back to home or work, and drops her off, promising to see her again soon, and keep in touch about Jason.


“Carson, you better eat something.”

Carson looks up drowsily from his chair, his neck having a kink in it from dozing off. He shakes his head wearily. “Not hungry.”

Rick shrugs. “Suit yourself. How’s she doing?”

“Same.” Carson glances to Misty. She’d been asleep for hours, and both men would have been more worried had she not been relaxed, and had her fever not broken. It appeared she was out of the woods, but hadn’t woken up yet.

“Mm.” Rick looks at his watch. “Since I’m confident she’s going to be all right, I’m going to go home at least for a couple hours. My number is on the counter. If anything happens, you call me immediately, understand?”

Carson gives him a lazy salute. “You got it.”

“You staying in here?”

“Do you trust me?”

Rick cocks his head. “No…probably not. But I saw the heart of a heartless man today, and that tends change perspective.” He turns to leave, not giving Carson time to respond.

Carson watches him exit, feeling a strange silence in the room. He looks back to Misty’s sleeping form, and just watches her for a while. The dim lights in the room gave a soft atmosphere, and it felt peaceful here, despite the chaos that had ensued earlier.

He swallows hard, thinking of Rick’s words…thinking about Misty and how she trusted him. His mind goes back to his phone call earlier that day. Guilt starts to toy with his conscience.

Shaking his head, he stands up and stretches, stifling a yawn. Looking around the room, he spies a couple spare blankets and pillows. He couldn’t go back to his cell tonight…he had a job to do. But he wasn’t going to sit in a chair all night either.

Grabbing two blankets, he spreads them out on the floor beside the bed, throws a pillow down, and eases onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. He knew he’d fall asleep, but he was a light sleeper…if anything changed or Misty stirred, he would wake…


Reese shuffles into his office, downing a cup of coffee on his way, nodding to Susanne and grabbing some paperwork. After finding out about Misty yesterday, he’d failed to give Carson anything to do, and today was determined to keep the man’s mind occupied and put to use.

Just as he’s flipping through some files, his phone rings. Picking it up, he answers and listens, his eyes going wide. “What?! Are you sure? That’s impossible. It hasn’t even been forty-eight hours! How?!”

Jotting down a quick note, he ends the call quickly, just to pick the phone back up and dial Lockheart. “Sorry to bother you this early, Miss Lockheart, but we got a problem. I just got a call from one of my sources downtown. They said Jason was shipped to the state prison at five o’clock this morning, by order of Judge Barker.”