New guy

Jason stops outside the infirmary door and leans against the hallway wall, closing his eyes for a moment.
Sorry, Katie...I handled that poorly. Wanna talk later, I'll be in my office.
Shutting his emotional communication before anything more can be said, Jason pushes off the wall and goes back to his office.


Scott searches Katie's face, not seeming to hear her final comment, but staying on the previous one. "Good. You two always did belong together, ya know..." His eye roams her face with a look of sincerity, even if there is some sorrow there.

He clears his throat, wincing a little, and straightening up a bit on the bed. "I...I missed everyone too. I thought...I didn't think..." He stops, looking down. He had thought they were dead. He hadn't thought he'd get out from the Agency alive.

An image flashes through his mind of that cold, hard cell, and he shudders...

...Opening his eyes, he realizes that he's pulled his knees up to his chest again and had shut his eyes tight for several moments. He has a hard time relaxing again, and doesn't want to look Katie in the eye, slight embarrassment rising.

"Guess I...I'm not much company," he comments quietly, his gaze still down. "Thought you were dead, ya know... the whole team... that's what they told me."

More is on the tip of Scott's tongue, but he suddenly stops, his mind not wanting to think about it. "So what's the new guy like? He, um... keeping things.... up and running?"


"Carter!" Reese raises his voice, pacing behind his desk as much as the phone cord would allow. "How can you say something like that?! He's your own man! ...I know we replaced him already and the job is filled but... no... no, we can't get rid of Dalton. He stays. I'm not going to hire a man just to fire him two months later. Look, I..."

He grits his teeth, letting his boss talk. "No. I don't want to lay off Scott. He just survived almost two months with the Agency. Do you think he deserves to get the shaft?! ...That's not the point!"

Reese rolls his eyes. "For crying out loud. What is wrong with you? I know our funding is limited, but surely we have enough to handle two tech..... Of course I want to keep my own job but..."

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Yes, Carter. Yes. I understand. I want to keep him here until he's well, though. Yes. Goodbye."

Hanging up, Reese mutters under his breath. "Dang you, Carter."

Seeing that more work needed to be done, he takes a deep breath and grabs some paperwork from his desk. He had to think about something else... he had to do something else before he went insane.

Heading across the floor, he brushes off a comment of Susanne, and simply aims for the hall, down and to Angelica's office. Entering the partially-open door without even knocking, he tosses the papers onto her desk. "Here's the stuff on the Henderson case," he grumbles. "Get him behind bars for life, I don't care."

Spinning on his heel, he starts back to her door.