Suncatcher

Hearing the door open, and Katie's voice, Ryder keeps his face hidden. He felt like a fool. He cried in front of no one. Why did she have to come down here? Why did she have to see him like this?

With the door closed again, he finally looks up, spying the bag of clothes. Giving his eyes a frustrated swipe with his hand, he reaches over to bring the bag closer. Looking inside, he spies a clean set of clothes, and he withdraws the t-shirt.

Sighing, he looks down at his bloodied one. He'd done a good job on that alright. Taking his shirt off, he sees that the bleeding has pretty much stopped after he'd quit moving around so much.

After putting on the new shirt and throwing the old one away, Ryder eventually gets to his feet. He was so weary... he just wanted to curl up again and truly forget about everything. But he still needed to get away from here.

He opens the door, and is surprised to see Katie once again. She'd stayed. She'd waited.

Ryder gives another sigh, and leans his back against the open doorway. He glances down at his raw knuckles and flexes his fingers, knowing he'd been stupid not to wrap his hands before being murderous on the punching bag. "Why do you keep doing this?" he questions. His voice was harsh and raspy.

Finally he turns his head to look at Katie. His eyes were glazed and bloodshot, unable to hide that he'd been letting his emotions take over.

"I'm sorry." The apology is a quiet one, but it comes nonetheless. He was a decent man after all, and knew when he'd been wrong.

"It's not your fault that I was shot by the man who all my life's hope had been built around. Or that now he's dead, leaving me with nothing. Or that I've been uprooted and forced to come here."

He pauses and swallows hard, lowering his gaze. He was so tired, and so sore from head to toe. But worse was the pain inside.

"And I'm sorry for my comments earlier. It was my fault that I..." He stops himself, feeling silly for even saying it. Where did his foolishness end? He shakes his head. "...that I came on to you when I shouldn't have."

Looking up, he finds Katie's eyes. "You're an incredible woman, and I'd be surprised at any bloke who could ignore that fact."

He lets his eyes fall once more. He wasn't sure how much of that was his own fault or not. He still wasn't sure all what he'd felt had been his own... but at the moment... it felt the same, and he knew Katie wasn't manipulating him. And if that was true... then it had been himself all along.

Pushing off the wall, he heads for the door, moving slowly as every muscle ached. "I'll go see Reese now about plane tickets," he mentions quietly.


Getting into his car, Rocky sets the grocery sack in the passenger seat and starts the engine. He'd been out getting a few necessities, such as ice cream, for him and Jess later on. Driving down the road, he starts to pass the familiar auto shop, and for some reason, he slows.

He looks to the parking lot. Axel's car wasn't there. Rocky sighs and pulls into the lot and just sits for a moment. He did feel badly. He even felt badly for hitting Axel. Even though Axel had a record like he did... Rocky knew that he should at least have given him a chance to explain. Everyone had skeletons in their closets. Why should he have treated Axel differently?

He knew it was because he'd wanted to protect Jess. But now that was probably over. Shouldn't Rocky at least try to do something? After all, he missed his friend too and so did the others. No one knew what to do... no one knew how to be friends with someone they didn't trust. But... maybe Rocky should be the first.

He didn't know why he suddenly felt this way. Maybe it was simply God's prompting to act like Jesus.

Giving up on talking himself out of it again, Rocky reaches for his phone. He tries Axel's cell and his landline, getting nothing. Finally he gives up. Though the car was gone, that didn't necessarily mean anything.

He gets out of his car and wanders up the outside steps, knocking on the door. He receives no response. Trying the door, he finds it open. Odd, if Axel wasn't around.

Stepping inside, the interior is dim. The curtains are drawn, and the blinds shut. There were no personal belongings lying around... there was nothing hanging on the walls. It was obvious that Axel had moved out.

"Aw, Axel." Rocky's shoulders drop. He blamed himself for this. He should have given Axel a chance, even if he did have a shady past.

Wandering to the kitchen, he sees a small tank with three goldfish. A can of fish food sat next to it. Apparently Axel had known that someone would come, and had hoped that someone would take care of the pets.

Rocky sighs. Nearing the tank, he takes some food and sprinkles some in the water. It was the least he could do. He'd take them home with him.

Something else on the counter catches his eye. Moving closer, he sees that it's a suncatcher to hang in one's window. It was a brilliantly colored glass rainbow. A note lay next to it with Axel's handwriting. It simply said "Jess."

...Rocky wanders back down the hall of TJY, his purpose for having left was partway forgotten. Arriving at the little room again, he knocks before entering, then goes and eases down on the edge of the bed. "Jess..." He didn't know if he should have brought it or not, but he had.

He slowly hands Jess the suncatcher. "I was just at Axel's place. I thought maybe I should at least tell him I was sorry for punching him. But... he's gone. All his personal stuff is gone, and... this was on his counter with your name on it."