Suffer the consequences

"I promise he's not there," Rocky comforts. He holds Jess close, rocking her just a little. "Come on... I'll be with you the whole way."

Turning to kneel, he lifts Jess gently into his arms, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "It's going to be just fine," he continues to assure.

Looking to Reese, he gives a little nod. "I'm with you."

"Good. Come on." Reese heads for the door, holding it open for Rocky, then making sure it goes shut again. Leading the way, he lets Rocky and Jess in the backseat, then gets in the front to drive. On the way, he makes a call.


Rick eases into bed and pulls the blanket up, rolling over to put his arm around Janet. He was exhausted. He hadn't been home in twenty-four hours, and bed felt more comfortable than ever. He gives his wife's neck a gentle kiss to tell her he loved her. He hadn't been home much lately, and when he had, he'd been so tired that he hadn't been very good company. He'd try to make up for it as soon as things at TJY settled down.

His eyes just start to drift shut, when the bedside phone rings. He buries his face in Janet's hair. He didn't want to answer it. He didn't want it to be someone from TJY. He didn't want to have to go back in. But the phone kept ringing.

Giving a groan, Rick rolls back over to answer it. "Yeah?"

"Sorry, Rick. It's Reese. I'm on my way back to the office. We got Jess Fisher coming along."

Rick frowns. He knew that name. "What? Why? What happened?"

"That old boyfriend of hers came back."

"Oh, no." Rick props himself up on his elbow, slowly waking back up. "Is she hurt?"

"Not too badly, but I thought it best you at least come in to help out. I know Misty's there with Angel, but with that and Scott, and now Jess, I didn't want to overwhelm her."

"Yeah..." It sounded as though Rick wasn't needed too direly, but he'd go. "Okay. I'm on my way." Hanging up the phone, he sighs. Flopping back down, he rolls closer to Janet. "If I have anything to do with it," he mumbles, "I'll be back before sunup." Giving her a last kiss, he pries himself from bed to get dressed again.


Getting to TJY, Rocky helps Jess walk into the building, though letting her lean on him. Another car pulls up and a strange man comes. It must be Rick, who Reese had called.

Rick sees Jess and his heart melts. "Come on inside," he offers, holding the door. "Take her to the infirmary," he directs. "We'll be waking up a couple people, but Misty is there."

Arriving at the infirmary, Reese opens the door. "Misty?"

Luke and Jeff both jump, startled from their light sleep in the chairs.


Carson shakes his head at Katie. "Yeah, everything is fine." He goes for the coffee. "Ryder just said he didn't think we should go in today. Personally I think he's got a hidden agenda still, but he won't admit it. We can't wait another day. If he wants to put a monkey wrench into things on purpose, I'm not going to let him. But I'm not going to waste my time trying to get him to admit what he's really trying to pull."

Ryder had come in after Carson, and stops at the kitchen, hearing the end of Carson's statement. He grits his teeth. Looking to Katie, he catches her eye for several seconds before letting his shoulders drop and wandering to the sink where he pours out his leftover coffee. "Maybe you shouldn't think so highly of yourself," he counters Carson. "Maybe others sometimes know better than you do."

Carson turns quickly, lifting his eyebrows. "You won't even tell me why we shouldn't go in today."

Ryder shrugs. "If my word isn't good enough, then you can suffer the consequences." Turning around, he heads back out of the kitchen, going back out onto the porch again.

Carson sighs. "Great. Maybe we should leave him here today."