Then you would have...

Luke smiles up at Angel, giving her a little nod. Though in his mind, he was already deciding that he would be staying awake for the trip home. He wasn't going to let Angel out of his sight until he knew she was safely back home. Not to mention, if he slept, he knew his energy would diminish, and he needed all of it right now, just to be able to keep on his feet and keep walking without worrying Angel.

"Alright." He gets up from the chair and grabs his bag. "Let's go find Gunner and get ourselves out of here. At this rate, we'll be home for supper."


Seeing the pleasure in Herb's eyes was enough for Carson to say yes to anything. He nods slowly, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Yeah... yeah, I'm sure."

Something tugged on the back of his mind, and something prodded his heart just a little bit. He knew what it was. He knew what it meant. He knew. But he closed his mind to it. For once... for once, he would think of someone else, and would be glad to do it.

His eyes return to Herb's. He would not mention Reese. He would not mention the other opportunity he had, to get back onto the Elite team. It was a pain he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before, because while it hurt, there were results that made him feel good, like he'd done something worthwhile for once.

"It would be an honor," he states with confidence. "I'd argue with you that I'm not good enough for the job, but I know that wouldn't get me anywhere." He grins a little. "It'll be nice to have the stability... I don't have to pretend that I haven't needed that in my life."

For the briefest of moments, Mackenzie's face flashes in his mind. Stability and being a father were two things that seemed to go hand-in-hand.

He shakes the thoughts from his mind, and just as quickly as they had been there, they were gone. "You and Mabel are going to have to teach me a lot... I may know how to make food taste good by now, but I certainly don't know how to run a business." A smile spreads. "I think I can remember a bit of math."


"...so I've kinda been working a little more." Scott sits in the familiar chair across from Hope, not really knowing what else to day. He'd told her that he'd gone to work by himself that morning, and that he was interacting with people at TJY just a little more now. The fear was slowly subsiding, and he wasn't sure just what else he needed to talk about now.


Laura walks from Susanne's office, her hands full of papers. In the copy room, back to Susanne's, to Reese, back to the copy room, then to see Jason, stop by Wyatt's desk, get information from Sapphire, then another round, landing her back in Reese's office for a good long while, only to discover that there were files she'd taken home with her the night before, that she now needed. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten to bring them back in.

Rolling her eyes at herself, she makes her way back across the main floor, fishing her keys out of her pocket. She wasn't even going to bother grabbing her purse.

Heading at a fast pace towards the exit, she only stops momentarily at Nate's cubicle. They'd both been at work all morning, but had hardly had time to say hi to each other. "Forgot stuff at home," she says quickly. "When I get back, we can run for a late lunch if you haven't withered away to nothing by then." Walking backward, she throws Nate a smile before spinning around to continue her route.

The ride home is a short one, and she makes it in good time. Getting inside, she shuts the door behind herself, tossing her keys on the table as she heads for her room.

On her way though, she spots Ryder in the bathroom. He looked like he'd been up for quite a while, fully dressed and awake. But his clothes were a little messy, and he was leaning over the sink, his face covered partway with what looked like a cold cloth. Laura pauses. "Ryder?"

"Mm-hmm," he mumbles, but doesn't look up.

Laura's eyes narrow as she frowns. "Something wrong?"

"Uh-uh." He still refuses to look up, shaking his head just a little.

Laura sighs. "Men," she grumbles. "You're all the same." Boldly, she enters the bathroom, reaching under his bent form to shut off the water in the sink. "What's wrong? Are you sick? Hurt?"

Ryder straightens just a little, but keeps the cloth in place. "I walked to the store." His words are still quietly mumbled. "Wanted to replace some stuff in the fridge."

"And?" Laura cocks her head. "So what?"

Ryder finally sighs and lets his hand drop, revealing his face.

Laura's eyes widen at his swollen black eye and split lower lip. "My goodness, what happened?"

Ryder shakes his head and turns the water back on to rinse out the cloth. "Kid was picking on an old lady. I intervened. He attacked me."

"Wrong place, wrong time." Laura sighs. She could tell by Ryder's speech that his mouth hurt. "Then what?"

"I won. Cops came. I told 'em I was Elite, so they let me go."

"And here you are."

"Here I am."

Laura shakes her head. "Do you look for trouble, or does it just follow you around?"

Ryder puts the cloth back to his hurting face. "I have no idea."

"Well come on... you're not going to do a whole lot of good taking care of yourself that way."

After convincing Ryder to let her take care of him, fifteen minutes later, he's on the living room couch, lying on his back with an ice pack on his eye.

Laura folds her arms as she looks down at him. "Now... just stay out of trouble for the rest of the day, will you? If you're that insistent about the food, we'll shop tonight and you can come along as my bodyguard."

Ryder gives a little smirk. "Yeah, alright. Just figured I oughta earn my keep until I find my own place."

Laura bites her lip and thinks for a moment. "You're... welcome to stay, ya know."

Ryder lifts the ice pack to see her more clearly. "Me, stay here, indefinitely, with two women? Don't you think that looks a bit odd?"

"Not if we work it out the right way." Laura shrugs. "I could move my bedroom down here into the office we never use. Then you could have the upstairs to yourself. There's only a half-bath up there, but there's two rooms and a nice closet. It's not like you'd be staying with a single woman, and that way we'd be on separate floors."

Ryder quirks an eyebrow out of habit, but lets it drop again as it hurts more than he thought it would. The thought was appealing. Katie was really the only friend he had right now, and Laura was quickly becoming a friend too. It felt nice not to be completely on his own at the moment. But still... "And Nate wouldn't mind?"

It's Laura's turn to lift her eyebrows. "He better trust me more than that."

Ryder's mouth curls up into a little grin. "Sure, but does he trust me?"

"I have no idea." Laura shrugs. "But he does trust me, and Katie too, so... I don't see a problem. Unless you do want to leave, then of course, that's fine."

Ryder shifts his weight a little, in a better position to look up at her. "So gonna marry him?"

Laura's jaw drops. "I thought we were talking about living arrangements."

"We were. I changed the topic. Nate's name made me think of it."

"Well I hardly think it's any of your business."

"No, it's probably not." Ryder can't help the spark in his eye. "So?"

Laura lowers herself to sit on the coffee table, her arms still crossed. "So what?"

"Are you?"

Laura would walk away from anybody else. But it was hard with Ryder. Something about him just forced her to trust him and not be upset or afraid to talk to him. "I don't know."

Ryder just studies her for a moment, finally putting the ice back over his one eye. "If everything around you came crashing down... if you lost your job, your home, and your brother moved away... who would you want to hold you?"

Laura blinks. What kind of a question was that? "I... what?"

"You heard me."

She thinks again. "Well I guess..." Only one face came to mind. "I guess Nate." She could already feel his strong arms around her, holding her, just letting her cry on his shoulder, and helping her weather the storm.

"Then why are you waiting?"

Again, Laura is taken off guard. "Because.... because I... well... I mean... what if it wouldn't work? What if I said yes and five years down the road we just couldn't get along and things went wrong? What if I messed things up? What if he would decide he couldn't stand me any more? What if circumstances drove us apart? Then what?"

Ryder doesn't miss a beat. His stare pierces Laura's gaze with intensity. "Then you would have had five years of love and life you never would have experienced otherwise." He shakes his head slowly. "I can tell you love him, and it's obvious he loves you too. There's no way you could wind up hating each other. Why not step out now and take the chance before it's too late? Why not take the chance that you will be this in love for the rest of your lives? If you back away now, you'll never know. And even if does fail, then you've only gained the experience of loving so deeply that you were willing to risk it all..."


...Laura slips back into her cubicle, letting out a long sigh. The morning had been long, it was completely gone, the noon hour was over and she was hungry, knowing she needed to go see Nate so they could go to lunch. While her stomach was empty though, her mind was very full.

Sitting down at her desk, she suddenly notices the gift from Nate, unaware that it had been there for quite a while already, waiting for her.

A smiles slowly spreads on her face. She picks up the rose and puts it to her nose to breathe in the sweet smell. Then setting it down, she cuddles the teddy bear, nuzzling her face into the soft fur.

Her eyes glance to the handwritten note and she picks it up next, running her thumb over the words. Taking the note, she pins it up on her wall, next to other notes that Nate had written her. Some were silly, some were cute, others showed his love.

Setting the gift down she looks at the rose again, then across the floor to Nate's desk. She could just make out the top of his head, and knew he was there. She stands up and slowly makes her way over to him. Her hands slip into her pockets and when she arrives at his cubicle, she leans on the doorway a little, just watching him work for a moment. Withdrawing one hand, she knocks on the wall, getting his attention.

Looking into his eyes, she studies him for a long moment until a smile creases her lips. "Thank you. I needed that today. Now are we gonna go to lunch, or have I starved you to death?"