I thought I told you...

Scott turns back around as Dalton speaks, a little bit surprised. Hearing that others had said he was the best sent a strange sensation through him. It was pride, but it was mixed with a sadness that he probably wouldn’t ever be in that position again.

Dalton’s apparent problem with a program hit Scott as a little strange, but he turns around and steps into the office. He stops though, a sudden wave hitting him… a memory of not all that long ago when he’d been forced to sit at a computer at gunpoint.

Swallowing hard, he shakes his head slightly, trying to rid himself of that image. “Um…sure.”

Walking slowly over to Dalton’s desk, he takes an empty chair and pulls it over, having just a bit of trouble with as little strength as he had.

Sitting down, he looks at the computer, his hands still in his pockets as he squints a little with his one eye. He needed his glasses or contacts, but it would take a while to get either of them again.

Scott is quiet for a while until finally he reaches out and hits a few keys, trying to figure out what the problem might be. He rubs his blind eye absentmindedly as it hurts again like it often did. “You do have a bit of a mess,” he muses. “But it shouldn’t be hard to…” His sentence trails off as he clicks a few more keys, moving just a little closer to control the mouse.

It only takes about two minutes and things are back to where they should be again.

“There you go. Next time just stay away from that area of the program and it should be okay. It’s always been a little fussy that way.”

A tap to his leg almost sends Scott out of his chair and he looks down quickly to see Domino, who was just as startled by his reaction. She gives a little whine and stands, ready to leave the office.

Scott grins a little. “I think someone needs to go outside.” He hesitates, part of him wanting to stay… he wasn’t useful anywhere else. But he had to remember his place.

Rising slowly, he puts the chair back in the corner, stuffing his hands in his pockets again. “Guess I’ll…see you later.” He glances at Dalton for a moment. “If…if you need any more help, um… I should be around… for a while.”

Leaving it at that, Scott trudges out of the office, his little dog close on his heels. Out on the main floor, he hesitates one more, seeing so many people around. In reality, it wasn’t all that busy, but to him, it felt like one big deathtrap.

Swallowing hard, he leans down to pick Domino up with just a little bit of trouble, figuring if he at least could hang on to her, he might be able to make it across the floor alright.

Forcing himself to greet those who waved at him, he finally makes it to the exit. Stepping outside, he sucks in his breath, hit with the fresh air. It had been so long since he’d been outdoors, if he didn’t count the rescue mission that he couldn’t hardly remember. He’d been locked inside for so long… he hadn’t even ever been able to see out a window. It all looked so…big today. And for the first time, the outdoors seemed frightening. There was no where to hide. There were too many places people could come from. There was too much he couldn’t see with one eye. There were so many noises… so much…. so big….

Scott finds himself backed up against the building, staying only for Domino’s sake. His hands start to tremble, fear gripping him once more, digging in deep until it hurt. His pulse sped up, his mouth went dry, his breath growing shallow.

Seeing Domino was finished, he takes advantage of the moment and aims for the door again, moving quickly. All he wanted to do was get back inside.

Turning the corner too fast though, he runs right into Con, who had arrived without him seeing it. Giving a cry of surprise and stumbling backward, Scott’s foot catches on a crack in the sidewalk and he falls backward.

Con’s eyes widen as he sees Scott too late to move, then watches as his friend trips. “Whoa, Scott.”

Scott winces as his hand scrapes the ground and he looks up, his mind half expecting to see the enemy, but quickly he realizes that it’s just Con. Despite that knowledge though, the terror had done its job, and once there, it was stubborn to stay.

Con reaches down to help him up, but Scott refuses, getting up on his own and staggering just a little to regain his balance.

Con feels terrible, and cringes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even see you.”

“It was my fault,” Scott mumbles, groping for the door.

“Can I help you? Are you okay?”

Scott sidles out of Con’s reach, not looking up to meet his eye. “I…I’m fine.”

Con watches helplessly as Scott slips inside. That had been less than a good meeting this morning, and it seemed so strange to see Scott like that. Con knew it hadn’t been his fault, but he still felt badly. Sighing, he heads inside too. He’d gotten used to coming several times a week to work out and see Jamie. Today too, he was looking forward to seeing Austin again.

Scott makes his way quickly back across the main floor, Domino having a hard time keeping up by trotting behind him. He keeps his head down, his shoulders dropped, not making eye contact with anyone. His face was red from embarrassment and irritation mixed with his fear.

Almost running into Laura, he shoulders past, heads down the hall and back to the infirmary. Slipping inside, he lets the door fall shut, backing up against the wall. Seeing Rick, and now Misty too, his eyes fill with tears as he slowly slides down to the floor.

Rick moves quickly to kneel by his side. “Scott… what is it? What’s wrong?”

Scott shakes his head and draws his knees up close. “I…I can’t…it just…I couldn’t…”

Rick looks down and sees that Scott’s hand is bleeding. “Here…let me help you up so we can clean your hand. What happened?”

Scott resists getting up, but is too weak to fight Rick’s physical prompting. He finally gets up slowly, only now realizing that Rick was right. He’d scraped his hand and hadn’t even realized it. Moving over to the sink, he numbly lets Rick clean the scrape.

Rick looks at him with sympathy and worry. “Scot… what happened?” he asks again.

Scott swallows hard, feeling utterly stupid and foolish for his display of emotions. “I…I don’t know. I just…I was outside and…. I ran into Con. I fell down and… I don’t know. I just… I had to come back inside.”

Rick sighs and gets a couple bandaids to finish off the job. He knew Scott had gotten scared again. He could see it in the young man’s eye. He knew that Scott was terrified of just about everything right now, and it pained him to see him like this. He could bandage up the outer wounds all he wanted… but there were some things he just couldn’t help Scott with. “Come on… rest a while. Then we’ll get you something to eat for lunch after a bit.”

Helping Scott back to bed, Rick does his best to get him settled, then quietly goes back to work. Once Scott is at least resting, Rick makes his way slowly over to Misty’s desk. Sitting on the edge of it, he sighs deeply. Scott had only been awake a couple days, but Rick was becoming more and more convinced that something needed to be done.

“He needs more than I can give him, doesn’t it?” he asks quietly.


Con makes his way slowly across the main floor, confused and feeling sorrier than ever for Scott. He hadn’t meant to scare him…

Making it to Jamie’s cubicle, he leans over the top, just waiting until she noticed he was there. “Hey, beautiful.” A smile surfaces. “We doing lunch today after I work out, or are ya leaving me out in the cold?” He tosses her a wink. “I did want to see Austin first though… have you seen him?”


Katie’s confidence helps Jason stay halfway positive as they enter the police station, making him realize once more how much he enjoyed working with her.

In case I forget to mention it again… there isn’t another partner I’d choose to work with.

Right behind her, Jason approaches the desk with her, letting her take the lead on this one. He wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to see Brown about, and was willing to listen and add his part only when asked.

The officer nods. “Yeah, Brown is in. Hang on one sec….” He picks up the phone, dialing a short number. “Chief?”

Jason lifts his eyebrows in surprise.

The officer grins at him, and whispers away from the phone. “Promotion.”

Jason can’t help his smile. Having Brown as the chief might not be a bad thing.

The officer concentrates on the phone again. “Yeah. Um… Katie Pent and J….” He thinks for a moment. “Jason…Stevenson are here to see you. Uh-huh. Okay.” He hangs up and points down the hall. “Help yourself. He’s in his office.”

Jason waves his thanks and heads to the office with Katie. Arriving, Brown calls them in after they knock.

He’s standing behind his desk looking through some papers, and smiles as he sees Katie and Jason. “Good morning. Been a while since I’ve seen you two. What can I do for ya?”


Clint watches Wendy go into the office and stares at the closed door for a moment. He couldn’t help his worry, even though she’s smiled. But…apparently she was going to talk to him later, not now.

Sighing, he tries to concentrate on work again. Flipping on the radio, he starts to sing along with the country song, scooting back to the stubborn engine…

…Clint sits on the park bench next to Wendy, starting in on his food. It had been too chilly for the bike today, so they’d borrowed a ranch truck. Going through the drive through at the fast food joint, they’d picked up some lunch, then settled in at the park.

But as Clint chows down, he sees the worry in Wendy’s eyes again, and notices that she isn’t eating, he stops.

Sighing, he sets his own burger aside, turning a little to face his girlfriend better. He’s about to say something when she starts first, so he waits and listens. As she speaks, his worry grows. Why was there fear in her eyes?

He swallows hard and listens, searching her face. Why wouldn’t he stay with her? Why would she say something like that?

Then her final words hit his ears.

Clint’s eyes widen. The only word to describe the look on his face could be shock. He blinks, wondering if he’d heard Wendy correctly. But staring into her eyes… he knew he had.

Pregnant? A million questions race through his mind. A million scenarios. But only one regret. For once is all it had taken. No matter their admittance afterward that they’d been wrong, no matter their promises not to make that mistake again… Once was enough, and that fact was proving itself now.

Clint didn’t know what to say… or what to do. “I…” He stops, not knowing what he had started out to say. He needed to say something. Wendy was waiting for a response. He knew why she was telling him… She’d been with no one else and he knew it.

Slowly he reaches out and runs a hand along her face. Emotions flood his eyes, but he wasn’t even sure what they were. Confusion…fear…

Not knowing what else to do, he abandons their lunch and takes Wendy’s arms to pull her around onto his lap to cradle her, trying to shelter her from the fear he knew she felt. There was no way he could even imagine what she was going through.

He didn’t love her less. He didn’t blame her. No, it was just as much his fault if not more. But how could there be joy when they hadn’t even planned their future yet? How could this be a happy event when it had been so unplanned, so unwanted?

“I’m sorry.” It was the only whisper he could manage. Pulling away, he looks her in the eye again. Fear shows itself in his own gaze, proving how helpless and confused he felt.

He draws in a shaky breath. It wasn’t like this was something they could hide. In a few months, it would be obvious to everyone. No matter how scared either of them were, they needed to admit what was going on. “You need to tell your mom… and I need to tell my parents too.”

It would be better to tell them now. Though adults, Wendy still lived with her mom, and Clint was still close to his parents. As such, they owed it them to tell them what had happened. It was only right.

“It’ll be okay.” Though his words were meant to assure, his tone proved he didn’t necessarily believe it himself.

Clint runs his hand along Wendy’s face, forcing a small smile. “We’ll get through this. I don’t know how, but…but we will.”


A tow truck rattles down the road, its driver glancing down the streets as he makes his way back to the shop. Tapping the wheel absentmindedly, the driver suddenly passes a car alongside the road. Glancing in his rearview mirror, he quirks an eyebrow. Was that a woman sitting on the hood? That couldn’t be good.

Slowing to a stop, he keeps his sights in his mirrors as he backs up the full length to the car again before stopping. Looking out the window, he can’t help the slight grin that surfaces as he sees just who the woman is. Putting the window down, he calls to her. “I thought I told you to dance near the flame, not set your engine on fire.”

Throwing the truck in park, Axel eases out and ambles around to the other side where Jess was, his hands on his hips. “Looks like I owe your car a thanks for setting up a chance meeting. You in need of help, or have you already called somebody?”


A tall, dark woman enters Mom and Pop's, looking around as if trying to find someone, not just an empty table. She doesn't seem to find who she's searching for, and finally approaches the counter where Mabel was.

"Hello." She remains fairly cool, though a small smile is visible. "I, um... I'm looking for a guy who might work here? I think... his name..." She cringes. "I can't remember, I'm sorry. He's blonde... good looking... not too tall, but not short...." She looks to Mabel for help, feeling a bit stupid.