Awkward?

Rick manages to get up off the floor with Janet's help, appreciating her presence. He grits his teeth, feeling more pain for this situation than he had so far. He doesn't have to explain to his wife what had happened - it was obvious.

Once he gets Scott back in bed, he cleans him up some and puts several new blankets over him, hoping to at least keep him warm while he was in his lethargic sleep state from the drugs. Cleaning up the shallow cut, it doesn't take much, for which Rick was thankful. He didn't know how he'd stopped Scott from doing more damage than that, but it didn't matter.

"I had to sedate him," he explains solemnly. "This is as bad as I've seen, and I'm not sure he was even completely aware of what he was doing. He was stuck in a nightmare. I don't know if he'll even remember this in the morning."

After finishing up with Scott, Rick sighs deeply, then turns his attention to himself. Shedding his lab coat, he rolls up his sleeve to see the cut in his own forearm and grimaces a little. "Well, at least I got the brunt of it instead of Scott."

Needing an extra hand, he has Janet help him clean the cut and put a light bandage over it. Finally finished, it seems like the whole process had taken hours, when in reality, it had only been half an hour.

With Scott settled, and a spare moment, Rick is finally able to eat the supper Janet had brought, enjoying it, despite his emotions that were churning. Earlier in the day, he'd thought he could just send Scott in for visits to Hope and not worry about him being by himself. But now... now he wasn't so sure. What was really best for Scott? What should be done? Was he doing the right thing? Was there something else he should be doing? Was Scott really a danger to himself, or was this a one-time incident?

Finished eating, he gives a sigh, rising to wash his hands. When done, he returns to his wife, wrapping her in a warm embrace and planting a kiss on her forehead. "I have to spend the night," he informs quietly. "In the morning when Misty comes in, I'll come home for a little bit of sleep before coming back. But I need to keep an eye on Scott tonight and ten-minute check-ins by Hal aren't enough."

Letting Janet go, he gives her another light kiss, this time on the lips, bidding her goodnight. It was going to be a long night... but he had a duty to his patient and his friend.


A hint of a smile surfaces when Angelica mentions Reese's wife being pretty. She always had been in Reese's eyes.

Letting Angelica's words sink in, he ponders them, still sipping his coffee. Was she right? Was he really needed by anyone anymore? Wyatt didn't need him anymore... TJY, or at least with Austin in charge, didn't need him anymore. What about...

His thoughts stop as Angelica admits her biggest reasoning for being in Nevada. Quirking an eyebrow, warmth comes to his own cheeks as he focuses on his coffee, rather than her face, despite the strange want to catch her eye.

Quiet, he lets it go. There were many reasons for her to be here. She was a good lawyer that TJY needed.

But as she asks him if he'd like to accompany her to California, his head shoots up a little faster than intended. Looking over to her in the dim living room light, he wondered for a moment why on earth she'd be asking him. But looking deeper... studying her gaze for just a moment, he sees something that he recognizes... something that he's felt too, for longer than he'd like to admit. Loneliness... and a longing to just have someone there again.

Pursing his lips, he ambles away from the wall of pictures, then downs the rest of his coffee. "Despite my position here, I've got to stick around in case anything else happens. I need to be here if Austin tries to pull any more stunts... even if I'm not employed by TJY at the moment, I still feel the people there are my responsibility as my friends at least. I can't leave... not now."

Realizing he'd been just a little less than warm, he turns around, forcing a small smile. "Thanks, though. One of these days I'll need a vacation to straighten out my mind, but right now... I just can't."

Going to the kitchen to put his mug in the sink, he inwardly cringes. He could have done that a little better. I wasn't that he didn't want to go.... Wait... he wanted to? He swallows hard and tries to push the feelings aside. He was being silly. This wasn't a big deal and he shouldn't make it one.

Returning to the living room, a hint of awkwardness is now laced along his body language and words, despite his effort not to let it show. "I guess it's getting late," he muses quietly. "I... suppose we both got long days ahead of us."

Pausing, the silence is suddenly too much, and Reese can feel the heat rising to his face again. It's as if all of a sudden he realizes that he had Angelica here with him in his house, and for reasons he's rather not think about, it sent a little flutter through his stomach.

Moving to the door, he unintentionally signals that maybe he was ready to be alone again. A lot had gone through his mind tonight, and even though he had enjoyed Angelica coming over... well, maybe he didn't even know what the "though" was. But he hadn't felt this kind of awkwardness in years, and he didn't know what to do with it.