Gone?

Wyatt smiles as he watches Aerith retreat to the house. He speaks, loud enough only for himself to hear. “Goodnight, Maid Marian.”

Giving a little sigh of content, he starts up his jeep again and pulls away from the curb, heading for home. If time allowed, he already wanted to stop by Mom and Pop’s sometime tomorrow…for the good food, of course.


Scott is just a little surprised that Katie shows up after the already-long evening, but her presence certainly doesn’t damper his spirits, and it’s not long before both are settled on his couch to watch a movie.

It gets late though, and after the movie, Scott bids Katie goodnight with a kiss to the cheek, and promises to see her tomorrow.

Watching her leave, he stands in the doorway for several minutes, Domino at his feet. He watches until the taillights disappear, but lingers in the cool night air. Finally he heads back inside to turn in for the night. Tomorrow foretold of a new adventure.


Jason ambles into TJY, glancing around to get his bearings. He’d slept so hard last night, that getting up this morning, he was still in a fog even after showering and walking to work. He was earlier than normal, but late compared to most anyone else. It looked as though almost everyone was at work already.

Tossing a few nods at people, he keeps up his routine of heading to his office and settling in for the day.


Wyatt looks up from his desk as he sees Jason walk by, and he glances at his watch. Sighing a little, he shakes his head and rises. He’d told Carson yesterday to meet with him early, but he hadn’t shown up yet.

Annoyed, Wyatt goes to Jason’s office and taps on his door.

“Yeah?”

Wyatt pokes his head in. “Sorry, but did you happen to see Carson before you came in?”

Jason raises an eyebrow. “What, he’s not here? He’s not at the apartment. He wasn’t around when I got up, and his bedroom door was open. I assumed he’d already come in.”

Wyatt furrows his brow. Carson had yet to get a car, so it wasn’t like he would have gone somewhere far. Something tells Wyatt that there was more to this than a forgotten meeting. “Did you bring your bike to work?”

“No, why?”

“Just thought you might want to go back and look around…you know…he didn’t leave a note or anything?”

Jason starts to wonder what’s going on. “Why the worry?”

“Oh, I’m not worried…just…curious.” Wyatt thinks for just a moment. “After all that went down…I don’t know… Carson’s got three weaknesses and they all start with “w.” I just want to make sure everything’s alright is all.”

Jason tosses him his apartment key. He hadn’t conversed much with his roommate the last few days to know or assume anything. “Have fun.”

Wyatt rolls his eyes. “Thanks.” Leaving Jason’s office, he checks by Carson’s cubicle once more, but still finding it empty, he heads out. Arriving at the apartment, he lets himself in and takes a quick look around. The only odd thing seemed to be Carson’s cell phone smashed in the living room. Wandering down to Carson’s bedroom, he glances around. Everything seemed to be in order… But something in his gut prompted him to look deeper.

Logic reminded him that this was ridiculous. Carson was a grown man with a life – so he was out somewhere. What was the big deal? But…it just didn’t feel right.

Wyatt takes a look in Carson’s closet, and checks out the dresser drawers. It seemed a little sparse maybe, but there was nothing missing. His sneakers and baseball cap were nowhere to be found, so he obviously really was out somewhere. But had he taken himself somewhere, or had he been on his way to work and something happened?

Not jumping to any conclusions, Wyatt goes back to TJY and heads for the one person who would know if Carson had other plans.

Knocking before he enters the infirmary, Wyatt opens the door slowly, smiling at Misty. “Hey, good morning.” He approaches slowly, still holding his smile. “You seen that boyfriend of yours yet this morning? He was supposed to meet with me, but hasn’t come in yet, though Jason says he’s not at home. Did Carson have plans to go anywhere today?”


The door to TJY opens again, and a man steps inside, or rather, is yanked inside. Muttering, he strains against the leash. “Heel! Heel!”

The Mastiff pays just as much heed to Dennis’ commands as he always had – he doesn’t.

Dennis gets pulled along down through the cubicles. “Dang mutt,” he grumbles.

Suddenly, Trooper stops and sniffs and the air. Giving a bark, he takes off.

Taken off guard, the leash slips from Dennis’ grip. “Trooper! Get back here!”

But the dog has only one destination in mind. Skidding around the corner and down the hall, he stops at Jason’s office door, jumping towards the doorknob, whining and scratching at the door.

Jason looks up from his desk at the strange noise at the door. What on earth? Rising quickly he goes and opens the door. Before he can even react, Trooper’s paws are on his shoulders, and he’s pushed back several steps before receiving wet kisses to his face.

“Trooper!”

For the first time since Jason’s return, a genuine smile escapes. He gives the dog a rambunctious rub behind the ears. “Hey, buddy!”

Trooper wiggles all over, causing Jason to stumble back until he’s leaning back against his desk for support. “Alright, alright, alright, get down.”

Trooper obediently goes back to all fours, though nuzzles Jason’s hand, still whining and wagging his tail.

“Oh, nice…”

Jason looks up at the negative remark and raises his eyebrow at Dennis. “What’s going on?”

“That mutt of yours…” Dennis points at Trooper. “He’s a right good dog, I’ll give him that. He helped us out a lot, but he doesn’t pay attention to anybody! I worked with him for a month straight and he still won’t even sit for me!”

Jason grins and looks down at Trooper. “You mean you never showed him how you can sit?”

Trooper immediately sits down, looking up at Jason for any more commands.

Jason looks to Dennis again. “What’s the problem?”

Dennis groans and throws up his hands. “He’s all yours. I’m going to report to Reese.”