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.

Enemy

*As Scott turns to leave a ping hits home for Dalton. He'd been around long enough and even in the field before to know stuff like this happend, and people got hurt. It was just the way it went in a job like this. But with Scott something was differnt, there was a sadness there in Dalton's heart that didnt happen to often. Looking down at his computer Dalton pauses for a moment before looking up again. Trying to keep his voice low though it was deep and grough normaly Dalton calls again to Scott. *

"Hey Scott. Humm...I know your still healing and everything but I was having a problem with this program here...."

*Dalton hits a few keys on his keybored to make it look more of a mess than it really was. Truth be told he new the program like the back of his hand but something...something made him want to have Scott's help.*

"...and I was wondering if by any chanse you could take a look at it for me and maybe show me what I was doing wrong. They tell me yours the best and I'd like to have the best show the best."

*Returning Jason's hug Katie just burrys her face in Jason's check for a moment. His feelings being revealed to her. It pain her to know that Jason was more upset about this than he liked to addmit and Katie wished she could make it all ok, but something told her change was in the wind and this was only going to get worse before it was better. Were they prepaired for this, maybe not but at least they had eachother to pull though it. Katie only hoped that the will of someone higher than even Carter himself had his hands wraped around TJY and everyones that layed inside it.

As Jason pulls away Katie just stairs up at him looking deep into his eyes. The eyes that held so much mystory, so much more than any normal person could see. The eyes that had captured Katie from the first time she met him.

Ok, we go see Brown maybe spend some time finding a new meaning to life other than work work work and than we can come back and see Scott. Maybe we can even find something to bring him. He needs to smile and shatter the gloom on his soul.

Giving a playful grin Katie grabs her eyes and hopes into her car starting it and than backing out and out of the parking lot speeding down the highway as if a challange to Jason. In no time flat Katie and Jason are at the station and making there way inside. Looking at Jason she gives a small smerk to his comment.*

"Austin can try to ban us from where ever he like but this is Americe and its a free country."

*Giving Jason's hand gentil squeeze Kaite enters and smiles as they are greeted. Giving a friendly smile Katie walks to the counter.*

"Morning. If Officer Brown in and if so can you tell him Katie Pent and Jason Stevenson are here to speak with him?!"

*Seeing the worry in Clint's eyes strikes a nearve that makes Wendy wish she didnt have to tell Clint anything. It only makes her wish that they had both been more carfel and smarter. Clint's worry only made her worry more but try as she must she holds her smile to reasure him he did nothing wrong.*

"Fast food and the park sounds good."

*Giving a thoughtful nod as his last question Wends stands a little strater walking twords Clint. Reaching out she takes his hand and brings it to her face to feel his skin aganst hers not caring that grease remained on them. Just holding it there for a second Wendy lets out a sigh.*

"Yeah everything is ok, I think. I'll see you at lunch hun."

*Leting go Wendy moves past Clint and into the office shuting the door behind her. Moving slowly over to her chair Wendy sits down at her desk and just rests her head in her hands for a moment as a few tears show themself. Why, why she let this happen. She only hoped God would have mercy on her now and let everything turn out ok.

Finally lifting herself up again Wendy gets to work on the paper work she had to look over an file. Moving just a little bit slower today Wendy trys to stay on tast though it was hard. Her mind always going back to what would be said at lunch and what was the best way to say it.*

Time once again time takes its toll. Moving slow for some as they wait for someone to come along and help them out...

*Kicking the wheel of her tire Jess lets out a long sigh. Why had she taken a new road she didnt know about, why had her car decied now it was going to act up and die on her. She was going to be late for work, she had no one to call because her cell phone was dead, and she was straned out in the middle of no where.*

"Why...why you stupid peace of junk."

*Leaning her back up again the car it lets out a low hiss as though it didnt like to much what Jess said. Giving a small jump Jess just rolls her eyes. The only thing she could really do was sit, and wait hoping someone would come along and help. Letting out another sigh Jess hopes up on the hood of the car and just sits, twirling her dead cell phone in her hand as she staired off into the horizon every tick of the clock seeming to take hours.*

...The time never being the same from on person to the next. Holding what seems like a weight over the shoulders of those who think time passed to quickly...

*Looking across the park bench at Clint Wendy trys her best to not let her nerves show through. Lunch had come to past and what seemed like 15 minutes had been 4 hours. She wasnt prepared to break the news to Clint and she still was not sure how.

Taking a small bite of her double cheese burger Wendy puts it down again. Her stomach was screaming for food, but her nerves kept her from eating. Picking up her napkin she starts to play with it nervously as she tairs it into little peaces her eyes not meeting Clint's.*

"I just want to tell you that you didnt do anything wrong if thats what your thinking...well not you alone anyways and...I'm not to sure how to say this. I was thinking about it all morning running words, sentinces everything through my mind and now...now it just don't seem like the right thing to say..."

*Wendy's voice quivers for a moment as she sucks in a breath trying to regain controll of her emotions.*

"...you know I care about you alot Clint and thats why I had to tell you among other reasons. Where we go from this point I am not sure, but I would hope you would stay."

*Closing her eyes the words almost get stuck in her throat but she forces them out anyways know she has to.*

"Clint, I'm pregnant."

...and though for a moment time seems to stand still as life, heart, words shatter. Emotions going one way and the next for all. Time was enemy once again.