All the reasons

Trooper gives a start as Katie joins them, drooping his toy right on Jason's face.

"Oh, thanks," Jason smirks.

Trooper pants and twists his head to lick Katie's face, then promptly drops down to sprawl on top of Jason instead of stand.

"Ahk!" Jason breath is knocked out of him as the weight of both dog and Katie come down on his stomach. "Trooper! What do you think you're doing?!"

Trooper gives a quiet woof, wiggling all over from his unstoppable energy.

"Dang, mutt, get off of me!"

The dog just groans and licks Jason's face before licking Katie's again too. He then manages somehow to half roll, half scoot out from under Katie, toppling right over Jason's face.

I can't breathe!

Jason grabs Trooper with both arms, shoving him off onto the side. Trooper immediately gets up, the hunkers down like he's ready to pounce again.

"Oh, no!" By this time, Katie's on top of Jason, and he grabs her to pull her up so she's between him and the dog. "Crazy dog! Go attack somebody else!"

Trooper barks, then nuzzles himself in next to Jason and Katie, squirming on his stomach until his head reaches theirs. Then he just waits, panting, looking at Katie, then looking at Jason, then back again, his tail wagging.

Great. So you both got me pinned down now. What's a guy supposed to do?!


The smaller thug is taken so by surprise by Jess joining in, that he stops, leaving himself wide open for her attack. Groaning and reaching for his knees as he's kicked, he goes down, just to receive her beating.

Carson struggles under the two other men, finally getting enough leverage to get his feet under one of them and send him flying back into the counter. The guy's arms hit a stack of glasses, sending them to the floor with a crash. Glass goes everywhere, ignored by the brawlers.

Having a brief moment of just one attacker, Carson manages to get enough strong punches off that he can be freed enough to stand, right before sending the leader up and over his shoulders, into a table.

The leader of the small gang slides across the table, taking chairs with him as he goes, and yelping in pain as his own leg get tangled in the chair legs.

For several more minutes, the chaos continues, no one really knowing where they are or who is who. Until suddenly a chair flies, hitting the window by the door. Struck at just the right angle and with just enough force, it shatters. The noise is enough for several cars to slow as they're passing on the street, and the three attackers gather on the side to catch their breath.

"Let's get out of here," one of them suggests. "We'll get him later."

"Yeah, we're drawing too much attention."

The leader glares at Carson one last time. "You bring her back in twenty-four hours, or you'll pay, man."

Carson glares right back at him, grabbing his broom handle again as a threat. "Get out," he hisses. "And don't come back."

"Whatever." The three grumble as they head out the door, kicking glass out of the way as they go.

Carson stands breathless, surveying the mess. He'd just cleaned. He'd just picked things up. And now... glasses were broken, two chairs were broken, and one of the front windows was in pieces all over the floor and sidewalk.

The look on his face matches what he feels - utter despair. Blood trickles down the side of his face from a cut on his head, and his nose and lip are bleeding too. All he could think about was what Herb was going to say when he found out. This was Carson's fault...he'd caused this mess... and he'd be paying for it.

He turns to look at Jess, making sure she's okay before turning without a word and walking toward the door. All he can do is start sweeping up the glass.

"Carson?" Dani comes up cautiously from the back, having let herself in with the key Carson had loaned to her. She'd been on her way home from work and had just seen some guys leave in a hurry, had noticed the front window, so she'd come through the back.

Her eyes widen as she sees Jess and Carson, both looking as though they'd been in the fight... then the mess. "What...what happened?"

Carson grits his teeth, spitting out some blood before continuing to sweep.

Dani looks to Jess with question, then back to her brother. "Carson...what happened?"

"I got in trouble again," he snaps. "What does it look like? You gonna just stand there and stare? Either get a broom or leave."

Anger flashes through Dani's eyes as she receives the sharp remark, and she puts her hands on her hips. "Heaven forbid I care about you. Now what is going on?"

"Just do yourself a favor and go home, Dani."

"I don't want to!" Dani's stubbornness comes through. "Tell me what happened!"

"I got jumped, alright?!" Carson stops sweeping, taking the back of his hand to wipe the blood off the side of his face. "They came in looking for a fight, and then Jess..." He gestures to her. "She got herself in the middle of it, trying to help me out."

"Well who were they? What did they want?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Well I do!"

"I don't care!"

"You should!" Dani's face reddens as her irritation grows. "Stop acting like a child and tell me what's going on!" She waits, but all she receives is silence as her brother keeps working to clean up the glass. "You've been acting weird for weeks!" She exclaims. "You've been late for work with lame excuses and fibs that you think no one will notice. Then this happens. Tell me what's going on, or so help me, I'm calling Herb right now to tell him about this."

Carson glares at his sister, then looks to Jess, then back to Dani again. "Alright. You want it? Here it is. I'm late in the mornings because there's an old man who needs help. When I jog in the mornings, I stop by his place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and stay just long enough to put a few boards together, a few shingles on a roof or get my own fingers black and blue. There's also Martha Hemmet, and old lady, who lives on Parker. She had a run-in with a sleezeball once and I broke it up. Out of thanks, she makes cookies and has adopted me as her company on Tuesday and Friday mornings."

His tone grows louder as he talks, proving he hadn't wanted to share it, but was fed up with being interrogated. "On Mondays and Thursdays, I pick up trash and bottles on my route. I throw the trash out and take the bottles to the recycle bins down by the grocery store. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I also take a longer route just so I might be able to wave at an old friend."

Carson pauses only to catch his breath, his tone still raised in anger. "And a while back, I spotted that scumbag you just saw leaving, beating his Boxer half to death because she wouldn't fight and he'd placed a bet on her! So I took her! It was animal abuse, but I had no proof, so I've been keeping her at a safe place. No one I know wants a dog, can keep them in their apartments, and even if they did, that guy still technically owns her! Not to mention, if I get caught with her, I can't afford a license for her, so she'd go to the pound. So he found me, alright?! Are you quite satisfied now?!"

Carson takes an angry swipe with his broom at some more glass. "All I'm trying to do is the right thing, and actually do something good for once, and all I do is get interrogated about it all the time! Herb doesn't trust me, and you don't trust me. I'm late because I'm helping people out, and I'm low on cash because I'm buying dog food all the time!"

Emotions surge through Carson's eyes. He felt so miserably lost, he didn't know what to do. He'd been trying so very hard, and this is what he got for it. He got in trouble for doing wrong, and he got in trouble for doing right. What did it matter?

Giving a growl, he turns back to his work without another word.

Dani stares at him dumbfounded for several seconds, blinking, then turns to look at Jess. "I..." She looks back to her brother. "I... I'm sorry."

"Just go home, Dani... just go home." His tone was softer, but he was tired of talking.

Tears fill Dani's eyes and she hangs her head. "I just care about you," she mumbles. "I'll see you tomorrow sometime then..." Turning, she heads for the back once more.


Scott is asleep, but feeling a soft hand, for a moment, he thinks he's dreaming, but then he realizes that it's real. And that voice.....was.... Misty's. Finally placing it, he rolls over in bed, seeing her start to work.

He just watches her for several minutes, studying what she was doing.

"Can't sleep, or just plain bored?" he asks softly.