Hurt feelings

Axel shakes his head and grins as Jess comes back yet again, this time ending the rainbow analogies.

Continuing the meal, he listens to her question, then processes it carefully. Finally he gives a little nod. "Yeah... Cryptic came along at a time in my life I was looking for a way out, so traveling was something I was attracted to. That, and the music, of course."

He pauses to finish off his sandwich and take a swig of his drink. "I gotta say though... after a while, the road got kind of old... for all of us. The rest of them have been at it longer than me, and we were all feeling it. We had a contract to do so many shows in so many places within a certain amount of time. Halfway through, we agreed that once that was up, we'd take a break for a while. And so... here we are."

He shrugs. "Hence why I'm now covered in oil and grease instead of sitting at the sound booth."

For a moment, his gaze becomes almost hazy his eyes seeming to focus on the ice in his glass. "Sometimes taking time to stop and smell the roses outweighs the animal inside that wants to keep on running."

Giving a little sigh, he reaches onto his belt to pull out a pocket watch from its leather pouch. "Unfortunately, there's never enough time to smell the roses, once you're stopped. And in my case, an irritable boss is waiting at the other end."

Quirking a grin again, he looks back up at Jess. "Thanks for spending lunch with the likes of me. I enjoyed it."


The ringing phone startles Cindy from her work in the laundry room, and she steps over the full basket to stumble into the hall and grab the receiver in the kitchen just before the answering machine picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Mom."

Cindy's mouth widens into a smile. "Jason. How are you?"

"Oh... hanging in there."

Cindy furrows her brow. "That doesn't sound so great."

"Yeah, well... lot's been happening over here. Guess I just wanted to let you know about them."

Jason eases down onto his couch, joined by Trooper who lies down quietly on the floor beside him.

Cindy takes the cordless phone back to the other room with her to finish folding towels. "S0, tell me about it."

"Well... at the moment, I'm on suspension."

"What? You've been suspended?" Cindy pauses her folding. "But why? How?"

"Not just me. It's me and Katie both."

Cindy stops again, her imagination going too far. "Please explain before I think something up."

"We went against Austin. It wasn't pretty."

"Oh, Jase... what happened?"

"First, have you talked to Austin lately?"

Cindy resumes her work as she thinks. "I guess maybe it's been about a week. He and I had a really good talk before he left. He was really concerned about you, and he was trying to..."

"Mom..." Jason cuts her off. "He's been feeding you a line of baloney like he has to everybody else."

Cindy's eyes widen, and she blinks in surprise. "Well Jason, why on earth would you..."

"Trust me." Jason's tone grows firmer. "I don't know what his game is, but it's not good. That's what I wanted to tell you. He's running TJY like a military base, he's got no mercy for anybody, and he's got it out for anybody who dares question his authority."

Cindy cocks her head as she hears the front door, and wanders back out into the hall, the phone still to her ear. Glancing around the corner, she sees Wes and smiles her greeting, though she tries to stay on track with her son. "That doesn't sound like him, Jase. Are you sure you're not just bucking structure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Look, you know we went after Scott and all that? And found him? Austin actually interrogated him after that. Messed up Scott bad. Then when confronted, he just says it was protocol."

Cindy frowns as she moves about the kitchen to fix Wes a late lunch. "Surely he had his reasons. I can't imagine him hurting one of his own men on purpose."

"Oh, he covered that too by letting Scott go."

"What?"

"Yeah, he canned him. Though some of us are working on that not happening."

"Are you sure you have all the pieces?" Cindy's worry increases. She gets a plate down from the cupboard, moving to prepare a sandwich. "I mean... I know Austin and that's just not like..."

Jason's frustration grows. "Look, I'm just telling you the facts."

"I know, but do you know everything? Maybe Austin had his reasons about Scott. And maybe he's just trying to make TJY a better place. You can't blame him for that."

Jason sits up a little straighter on his couch, suddenly feeling as though instead of simply informing his mother, he had to defend himself. "No, he didn't have any reasons, other than to torture Scott! And he's ruining TJY, not making it better."

Cindy sighs, her motherly instincts taking over. "It can't be that bad. He wouldn't do anything to harm the corporation or deliberately do things to make his staff unhappy."

"He would and he is!"

Cindy finishes up the sandwich and moves to the table to put it down for Wes, then goes to get him something to drink. "I think you're reading him wrong. The man I spoke to just before he left wouldn't have done that. He cares about his agent, and you're the most important to him too. He loves you Jason. Give him a chance to fill Carter's shoes. It can't be easy, and..."

"He doesn't love me!" Jason is on his feet, pacing as his anger starts to churn. "Do you really want to know what kind of a man he is?"

"Well I thought he..."

"I'll tell you. He helped put me in prison."

Cindy stops in her tracks at the refrigerator. "What?"

"You heard me."

"Oh, Jason, come on." Cindy puts a hand on her hip. "Why on earth would he do something like that? How did you find that information?"

"I found it in his own office. It's as plain as day. Don't believe me, I'll send you a copy."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't believe he'd do something like that." A pain hits Cindy's heart as she remembers how awful the time was when she knew her son was in prison. She couldn't believe that Austin was capable of instigating that, or helping make that happen. "Did you talk to him about it?"

"Of course not!"

"Well maybe you should, and hear his side. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for whatever it was you found."

"There isn't! He sold me out, Mom! Don't you get it?!"

"But Jason, I..."

"You know what? Forget it." Jason throws his arm in the air. "Just forget it. I called because I wanted to let you know what was going on in case he tried to pull a stunt with you too. But apparently he's already convinced you he's the nicest guy on earth. So I guess I'm alone in this one."

Cindy blinks again as she receives Jason's harsh tone. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"You want to do yourself a favor? Don't trust him any more, and tell the others not to either. But if you prefer taking his side over my word, then so be it. I can't stop you."

Cindy's voice starts to waver. "Jason, please... I just think that..."

"No." Jason grits his teeth. He'd expected support, not the need to defend himself, especially with his own mother. "Just go on trusting him. I'm not. If you don't like it, fine, but don't go telling me what a nice guy he is, when you haven't been here to see what's been going on."

"I..."

"I'll talk to you later.''

"No, wait, I..." Cindy drops her arm, shutting off the phone with her thumb. Jason had hung up. Turning, she leans back against the kitchen counter, stunned. She didn't know what to think. She'd always trusted Austin. She couldn't believe he'd be doing those kinds of things. But she wanted to trust Jason too.

A tear escapes to run down her cheek. Jason had never yelled at her before.

Swallowing hard, she numbly takes Wes' drink to the table, then sinks down in a chair. It was obvious Jason was very upset over the whole thing, but... had he really meant to be so harsh with her? Had he really hung up on her, just like that? They'd had their differences, but he'd never made her feel like this before.

Another tear rolls down her face, and she wipes it off quickly. She didn't want to worry Wes, while at the same time, she was hurt and just felt like she needed a hug.

Jason groans and tosses his cell phone on the table. That had not gone well at all. He hadn't wanted to yell at his mom - he never did. But she just wouldn't listen!

Trudging down the hall, he flops onto his bed, closing his eyes. Maybe if he took a nap, he'd wake up to find everything better.