The only light

Jason lets Katie sit on his lap, and moves to wrap his arms around her waist.

Receiving her words, relief seeps through…happiness…love. His eyes fall into her own, so much being said with no words at all.

Leaning into her kiss, Jason returns it warmly, his hold around her tightening to draw her closer, his hands caressing her back. She could make him feel like no other, and a tingle runs down his spine as passion comes forth.

But even while in a blissful moment as this, it was Jason’s most vulnerable position. And having Katie this close, touching him, while he willingly shared his warm emotions to accompany the kiss, hidden feelings were unintentionally exposed.

Anger… disgust… and a deep, deep hurt. None were aimed at Katie, but rather to something… someone else who remained in the shadows.

Unable to hold back any emotions during a passionate exchange, and knowing that both positive and negative served to fuel Katie, Jason can feel those hidden emotions being drawn out, and knows that they are no longer secret.

Slowly, gently pulling away, Jason rests his forehead against Katie’s, his eyes closed as he holds her. He knew she would know that those negative feelings were not because of her. But now she would wonder and question where they had come from. And with her…there simply was no place to hide.

I’m sorry… When you kiss me… hold me… I can’t hide anything.

When he allowed himself to open his passion and to be off guard, everything was vulnerable.

I love you too… All I want is for things to be alright again… for things to be normal again. There’s stuff I wasn’t telling you because I didn’t want any more stress passed around…

Jason opens his eyes and straightens a little so he can see Katie. He brings a hand to her face, his thumb running over her cheek. Then pulling her close, he hugs her tight.

“Oh, Katie,” he whispers. “You’re the only light in my world.”


Reese shakes his head and wipes his mouth with a napkin. "I don't know... I just...I don't know." He gives up trying to think of something for a moment and eats, though finally comes back to the subject.

"You're right that Jason and Katie would have gone after Scott on their own. Most likely would have dragged Dalton right along with them. But that fact just seems to make Carter madder. He says it was stupid of them to begin with, and even stupider of me to not only go along with them, but lead them. I just..."

He shakes his head again. "I don't understand what he's thinking, or why he has that perspective. It doesn't seem like something he'd say. I mean... where's that original fire? Where's that original pride that said we'd take down the Agency no matter what?"

Reese pauses, the worry etched in his face. He looks down at his half-eaten food, wishing he had more of an appetite, but it just wouldn't come. His age was showing, through the stress and strain of his job, a few more gray hairs had come, his face proving the wear and tear of his job.

"I feel like something is wrong, Angelica..." He looks back up to her. "I haven't said that to anyone else, but I just feel like... I don't know... like there's a storm brewing. Like this is bigger than just this one instance. It's almost like Carter was waiting for something like this so he could pounce. But that's not like him." Reese rolls his eyes. "Pretty soon he's not going to be around anyway. I haven't seen him for weeks, and I know his heart is getting worse. But anyway... he wants Austin back, and he hasn't said so outright, but I'm pretty sure he wants Austin to take over my job. Why, I'm not sure. I just can't believe it's only because of this one thing."

He picks up his fork again to pick at his food. "Then there's Jason. Poor kid." He laughs at himself. "Kid... he's a grown man and I better start thinking of him that way. I know he's been in contact with Austin lately... well... kind of. There's family trouble there... not that I can blame Jason, but this situation at work isn't helping things any. Something showed up in some old records the other day about his father... stuff that I didn't want to show him... I'm afraid it would just feed his case against Austin at this point."