Once I'm there

Carson doesn’t keep Jess from helping him, and concentrates on work, though he listens to her talk.

“I’m not scared of Herb being upset. On the contrary, I know he won’t be. He’ll just look at me… with that disappointment in his eye.” He shakes his head. “That’s worse than him yelling at me, you know that?”

Pausing, broom in hand, Carson almost laughs at himself. “Listen to me… I sound like some little kid who’s just done something wrong and is waiting for their dad to get home.”

Caught off guard by his own statement, he stops, lost in a stare. Disappointment had been a fear since childhood... a fear up until he'd decided he didn't care what other people thought of him.

Blinking, he sighs and looks back at the glass on the floor, having almost swept all of it up. "I need to find some cardboard and some duct tape. Then tomorrow morning I'll head right out to the hardware store when they open to see about a new window. Maybe if I've got repairs in the works by the time Herb sees this, I won't be in so much hot water."

Working hard, he and Jess accomplish a lot, and soon the floor is clean, no glass to be found, and no one would have known what had happened, were it not for the cardboard up by the door.

Exhausted and sore, Carson leans against the side of a booth, finally just sliding to the floor to sit there instead of a chair. Catching Jess as she passes, he pulls her down into his lap and wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder.

"Can we just run away?" he mumbles. "Is there anywhere that I can get away from making mistakes all the time?"


Lost in thought for a moment with feelings he's not sharing, it takes a second or two for Katie's words to register and Jason finally focuses back on her face. "Um...walk?"

He shrugs. "Sure. Why not. But can I at least finish my food first? I've been trying to ever since we sat down."

A grin plays at the corner of his mouth, his eyes tossing Katie a playful glance as he tries to finish his supper.

Finally done, Jason gives a contented sigh. "That was much better than a tv dinner...thank you." He thumbs to the door. "Alright, a moonlit walk is waiting. And if you don't get me out there now, I'm liable to go sack out on the couch instead and once I'm there, you know I'll fall asleep."


Scott takes in Misty's words, and though he might not react to them, he was absorbing them and trying to let them make him feel better. He wanted to feel better... he really did. It just... seemed... hard.

Watching Misty work for a while, he fights sleep, not wanting to face the dreams just yet.

"Misty?" He asks just loud enough for her to hear him. "How come you can't sleep at night?"