Evening closes

Jason gives Katie a short look of gratefulness, knowing that she had read and understood him. He couldn't do that with anyone else.

As Misty speaks to him, he nods. "Thanks, and again...I'm sorry."

Wyatt gives Aerith's hand a squeeze, knowing she's trying her best to be calm and move on. "It's alright," he whispers. "We'll get this whole thing straightened out. But for tonight, let's both just try to have some fun."

With the pizza arriving, Jason glances around, and sees that there are a lot of people looking at him with question as to who this new young woman was. He clears his throat a bit awkwardly. "Um, well...bad timing, but this is my..." Jason hesitates for just a moment. He hardly knew Camryn. He'd seen her only a few times now and barely knew anything about her, other than she seemed nice, was out going, and he knew where she worked. "...acquaintance, Camryn Lane."

Sensing his friend's awkwardness, Con is the first to call out his greeting from the table. "Hey, Camryn. I hope this rowdy bunch doesn't scare you too much."

Camryn laughs. "Hardly. You all look too nice to be scary."

Con grins. "Would you tell my girlfriend that?" He thumbs towards Jamie. "She doesn't think I'm being nice."

"Oooh." Camryn gives him a sly look. "You look like the kind of man who can handle yourself quite well without my help."

Several people around the table laugh as they begin to relax. "Yeah, tanks don't usually need much help," Ty quips.

"Heeey." Con shoots him a mock annoyed glance.

Camryn giggles. "Well it's nice to meet y'all. I didn't mean to barge in on your party."

"You didn't," Laura responds, sensing this young woman's honesty. "Just don't be afraid to join in or defend yourself if these guys get too overbearing for you."

Jason quirks an eyebrow. "For some reason, I don't think that will be a problem."

Camryn elbows him.

"Hey, I meant it in the nicest way," Jason defends.

"Right."

"Come on." Jason heads back down to his end of the table with Camryn behind.


Scott eyes them as they go to the other end. "I've seen her somewhere," he comments, mostly to himself. "But I can't put my finger on it."


As the chatter around the table picks up again, though this time without a war as everyone starts digging into the pizza, Carson leans closer to Misty. He was confused about what had just happened...he knew she had a brother, but didn't know details, nor did he understand how she and Aerith knew each other. But those seemed unimportant details at the moment. The look on Misty's face worried him. "Hey...you alright?"


Despite the brief and tense interruption, the evening proceeds as lighthearted as possible with much talk, much laughter, and much teasing and banter between almost everyone. Scott and Jim get into it over something to do with cars, Con relentlessly picks on Laura, though she seeks protection from Nate, and Wyatt joins in, constantly keeping one eye on Aerith.


"...and then I..." Camryn stops as her cellphone in her purse starts to ring. "Oh, hang on." Standing up, she goes to the corner where there's less noise to take the call.

Jason takes another swig of his soda and looks up just in time to catch a flying ball of napkin, hurled from Rick. "What?"

"You're too quiet!" Rick calls down to him.

Jason shakes his head. "Maybe you're too loud!"

As Camryn comes to sit down again, he diverts his attention back to her and the annoyed look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, that was Sandi. She dropped me off down here and was going to do some shopping, and come back by and pick me, up. However..." Camryn rolls her eyes. "She got carried away, basically forgot I was here, and now she's at the movies with her boyfriend."

"So you're stranded."

"Yeah, pretty much." Camryn chuckles. "But that's ok. It's a long walk, but I do it all the time."

"In the dark?"

"Well, no, but..."

Jason looks at her with his own annoyance, remembering Frankie. "This town is nice, but it has its creeps. Let me give you a ride home."

Camryn lifts an eyebrow. "Well aren't we being quite the gentleman tonight."

"Is that a no?"

"It's a maybe. What's with you being so nice?"

"I told you I had a good day."

"Mm, you ought to have more of them then."

"I wouldn't mind that." Jason rolls his eyes. "If you're too scared to go with me on my bike, then I'll arrange for someone else here to take you home."

Camryn's eyes light up. "You've got your bike here?"

"Yes."

"Now how on earth could I pass that up? You got an extra helmet?"

"Yep."

Camryn bites her lip, then nods. "Okay."

"That took long enough." Jason looks around, noting that people were beginning to get full, the pizza almost gone.

Camryn follows his gaze. "I'm ready any time."

"Well...let's go then before it gets too late then." Jason stands up and grabs his leather jacket off his chair, handing it to her. "You're wearing this though. Safety for my passengers comes before mine."

Camryn's eyes narrow for just a moment, a smile playing at her lips before she takes his jacket. "Alright."

Jason moves down the table, waving to some of the others. "Good night, guys." Seeing Scott, he gives him a nod. "Scott." His eyes move to Katie and he lets his gratefulness out again through his eyes and feelings. "See you tomorrow."

The table bids him goodnight, and he heads out with Camryn. A few minutes later, his bike can be heard starting and revving down the street.

His was the first exit of many, as the others begin to relent to giving up for the night. Everyone was exhausted, especially those who had been on a flight that morning. Scott's own eyes showed his sheer exhaustion, still running on the little sleep he'd gotten on the plane. It was hard to believe that just that morning they'd been in Texas. It seemed a lifetime ago.
He turns to Katie, offering her a smile. "Can I take you home?"


As the group begins filing out, everyone hollering to Herb and Mable their thanks, Reese holds the door open for Lockheart and steps out onto the sidewalk with her, taking in a deep breath of the evening air. The sun was just sinking below the horizon.

He walks her slowly to her car, his hands in his pockets, deep in thought. Arriving at the vehicle, he stops her. "Angelica..." He pauses, looking at her for a moment. "A lot is going to be changing around TJY now...I think it will be good in the end, but I imagine staff will shift a bit, and the process will be a bit painful at times. Regardless though, Sheriff Brown leaves most of the authority to me in this and that includes who we hire, etcetera." He pauses again. "We could use a good lawyer on the team..."