Nighttime

Bret finally stops his pacing and eases down in a chair too. “Dean’s gonna be alright…as alright as you can be with two broken legs. And Brandon…” He shakes his head. “They don’t know. He’s still in surgery.”

Giving a little sigh, he leans his head back against the wall. He hadn’t slept in two days and it was getting to him now. “I’ll stick around for a while yet to find out what happens, then I’ll scoot on out of here before I collapse and they keep me here too!”


Carson throws Misty a playful grin. “If you miss me tonight, then it’ll make tomorrow night’s dinner all the more enjoyable.” He winks. “Night, Sassy.”


Scott’s eyes grow heavy as the television drones on with the movie. Domino is happily dozing at his feet, and Katie is in his arms. He’s warm and comfortable, but it just proves to make him all the more tired. His arm around Katie, his fingers absentmindedly stroking he cheek.


Jason flops down on the air mattress, his mind going a million and one directions at once. Closing his eyes, he tries to focus and straighten out his thoughts. His evening had been…surprisingly enjoyable. Camryn had been…good company.

But right now…no matter his evening, Jason’s heart still hung heavy with that which he had yet to let go of. He was tired of feeling miserable…and had yet to rid himself of the rest of his pent up emotions that he had locked away. His own heart was confusing him, stuck between the past and the present…old feelings and new.

Heaving a slow sigh, Jason knows it’s time…he needs to clear his heart once and for all…dig up the rest of those buried feelings he’d been hanging on to and get rid of them.

He doesn’t know why he decides this now…tonight. Maybe it was that he was trying to see that light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it was that he was seeing how gaining back his life was again at his fingertips. Maybe it was having someone push him so much, that even though he fought it, it forced him to battle it out inside. But no matter the reason…the flow started once again. “Katie,” he whispers into the dark, “Forgive me one more time…” He doesn’t know where she is tonight, but only hopes she can be unaffected.

It’s the rest of his hurt…the rest of his anger…going clear back to prison again, following through up until today. Pain. Fear. Misery. Sorrow. Even a few remnants reaching back farther to recent episodes of dealing with memories of Alex. It was all there…it was all that was left of the collection of emotions that he had tucked away…that he had hidden from Katie. It was all those cold shoulders he’d turned…all those tears held inside. Everything. Done.

Jason’s eyes shoot open as he stares into the dark. A bead of sweat trickles down the side of his face. His hands are shaking slightly and he turns to see the clock. He didn’t even remember the last ten minutes.


Con stirs in his sleep. It’s late. It’s dark. Images flash through his mind in the form of a nightmare. The cave-in…Dean…Brandon…

All of a sudden, he sits bolt upright in bed. Giving a little cry, he suddenly realizes where he is, and is brought back down onto his pillow by the shooting pain. Blinking, he tries to catch his breath and get his bearings.