I'm asking

Hunter laughs and nods. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll have to wait until Kyle's asleep or something so he doesn't realize I took over his job."

Still smiling, he stands up, setting his hands on his hips. "Well, I guess I better get back to the group or they'll be yelling for me too. I think we're going to pull out in about an hour and a half or so."


Con gives Aerith a grateful nod. "Thanks. I'll see you around."

Making his way from Mom and Pop's, Con takes his time driving. Instead of going home though, he aims in the other direction. He wanted to stop by TJY and see Jamie... maybe say hi to a few other people too. Reese had said he wanted to talk to him soon anyway, so as long as he was there, it might be a good a time as any.


Carson opens his mouth to argue with Angelica about the research, but then closes it again, knowing better. For once... for once, he'd have to take someone else's directions. If he wanted to get out of this thing on top anyway. "Alright. Though I don't know who to get to research Heather since this isn't a TJY case."

He thinks for a moment, going back over what Angelica had told him. "Good luck getting to talk to Mackenzie. If you want to though, you should be able to reach Heather by going through the Arizona social services. That's how I found a number for her. I didn't write it down though. Come to think of it, maybe you should call her anyway... if she knows I have a lawyer, she might not be quite so quick to keep pressing this issue." He shrugs. "At any rate, she'd be the one to talk to if you're intent on talking to Mackenzie."


Ryder wanders down the hall of TJY, looking for something to do. He'd helped Katie out a little bit, had said hi to a few of the guys, but once more had wound up bored. Ambling past Jason's open office, he pauses. After catching a glimpse of Carson earlier, but avoiding contact, the same question had risen in his mind as it had before. Jason didn't look too busy... he'd finally ask.

Jason looks up as his eye catches sight of someone in the doorway. Seeing Ryder, he lifts his eyebrows. He hoped that this wouldn't be like the last meeting. "Hey, Ryder."

"Hey." Ryder leans on the doorway. "Busy?"

"Kinda." Jason shrugs. "What's up?"

Trooper rises from where he'd been lying, and approaches Ryder curiously, but not aggressively. In less than a minute, he's sitting down enjoying a good scratching behind the ears. Jason quirks an eyebrow at his dog. It was highly unusual for Trooper to act so calmly around someone he didn't know.

Ryder pays attention to Trooper for a moment before looking back up at Jason. "Did a bit of research... found out about Carson, how he got here and all that."

Jason leans back in his chair, curious as to what the man was getting at. "Okay..."

"Saw he caused quite a bit of trouble for some folks around here... even you."

Jason's eyes narrow slightly. "Carson's caused a lot of trouble in a lot of places. What are you getting at?"

"Oh I dunno. I saw he roughed up Jamie pretty good... saw he was the one that bashed in your knee too."

"Ryder..." Jason looks straight at him. "What's your point?"

"How did you get over it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Would you say he's your friend now?"

Jason thinks for a moment. "Maybe. I mean, we're not buddies, but we're not enemies." He can't help a wry grin. "You might find us beating each other's brains out one minute, and the next we'd be fighting to protect each other."

Ryder gives a light dry laugh. "How did you do it... get over the past, I mean. He hurt so many people... hurt you in bad way... more than once. How can you even be close to friends now?"

Now Jason thinks he understands. Leaning forward, he rests his elbows on the desk. "You're trying to forgive him for your brother, aren't you?"

Ryder looks down and pets Trooper again. He was. He didn't like the hate he felt. But he didn't know how to get through it. "Maybe."

"Well, first off, I think that situation was different. You have to understand that Carson was looking out for his team. It was self-defense. He wasn't trying to get anybody killed or hurt somebody... I'm sure he didn't want to at all."

"I know..." Ryder heaves a sigh. He did know. He didn't like accepting it, but he knew Jason was right. "I just thought..." He lets his words trail off. He just thought that his brother wouldn't have drawn a gun... that his brother would have gone with them and gotten out. But it wasn't worth rehashing. He turns to leave. "Thanks, Jason."

"Yeah... sure..." Jason watches Ryder leave, a little bewildered, but not bothered.

You invite Ryder to the concert tonight? He could probably use something different to do before he goes stir crazy.

Jason was almost surprised that he didn't hold some of his own malice towards Ryder after what he'd said about him and Katie. But for some reason, Jason didn't. He blamed himself for that small mess, for not making Katie happy enough. And... for once, it wasn't hard just to view Ryder as a new friend, not a threat. Even with him staying with Laura and Katie, Jason thought it would have bothered him... but maybe it was simply trust in Katie that eased away any worry.


Rocky leans on the desk and gives a shrug as he talks to Jess. "Oh, I'm alright. Nothing too exciting happening." He takes back the clipboard, but lingers several moments instead of going right back out to the truck.

"Thought I might invite you to lunch, but sounds like that might make Axel mad."

A wry grin surfaces on Rocky's face. "JetStream concert tonight. Cryptic will be there as audience. See you there?"


"What?" Con stares Reese in the eye, wondering if he'd heard correctly.

Reese nods from his position behind his desk. "I want you back."

"Look, we went over this a long time ago." Con's voice becomes stern. "It wouldn't work. I don't want to be behind a desk all day."

"And what are you doing now?" Reese challenges. "I heard you've tried three different jobs in the last two months. Quit two, got fired from another. Is that what you have in mind to keep doing?"

Con grits his teeth. He didn't need to be reminded of his failures. The last few months had been murder. All his other buddies from Titan had found their places for the off-season... he was the one with the problem. "I couldn't get along with anybody at the mall security station, the head guy over at the supply shop had a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas, and this last job, because I couldn't hear some of the equipment in the machine room, I got fired."

Reese sighs, looking up at his friend. "I know it hasn't been easy, Con. Someone like you can't fit into other people's molds. It just doesn't work. Why do you think I'm asking you back?"

"But for what?" Con throws his arms in the air. "I can't do it!"

"But you want to, don't you?" Reese's voice remains calm. He knew Con too well. He could see the look of desperate longing behind the big man's eyes. He recognized the hunger to return to what he'd been called to do.

Con's eyes finally look down as he rests his hands on the back of a chair. "I can't come back," he restates quietly. "I can't see the action going on around me every day and be forced to not be a part of it. It just wouldn't work with my hearing loss... I wouldn't be able to take it."

"That's not the real reason you haven't come back, and you know it."

Con glances up quickly. "What are you talking about?"

"You know good and well." Reese lowers himself into his chair, swiveling absentmindedly. "When are you going to admit it to yourself?"

An unwanted twinge pangs Con's heart. The memories still haunted his mind. He hadn't thought that anyone would know his real reasoning - he didn't ever even talk to Jamie about it. But it was obvious that Reese saw it. "I let the monster go," he responds quietly. "I can't risk it coming back again."

"Avoiding the situation is no way to win the battle," Reese counters.

Con gives a little groan and finally sinks down into a chair too, tired of standing. He sits back and just stares at the ceiling for several minutes. He remembered those days all too well. The fear. The anger. The hatred. When Jamie had been captured by the Agency, he'd almost gone mad with his anger. He'd done things he regretted, and had said things he regretted. Getting away to his aunt and uncle's had been a necessary retreat and he'd come to terms with himself, realizing that the monster in him didn't have to win... he could control it, and he wasn't a bad person. But he'd still decided that returning to TJY was not what he could do.

Reese just watches Con for several minutes, letting him think until he speaks again. "You can't use your hearing loss as an excuse, Con."

Con looks quickly to Reese, ironically not having heard him clearly. "What?"

"I said you can't use your hearing loss as an excuse," Reese repeats. "You know that you'd rather be around here behind a desk than not at all. You'd rather see the action going on and be able to help behind the scenes rather than not at all. But you're telling me that you wouldn't be allowed back on the field because of your hearing, and as a result, you're not willing to come back. But I know you better than that... Your real problem is that you're afraid of your anger cropping up again."

"I was at the doctor again the other day," Con admits, skirting the issue.

"And?"

Con looks up again, his eyes showing he didn't want to admit to Reese the results. "Everything's still a hundred percent gone in my left, and... there's some loss in the right now as well."

Reese purses his lips, feeling sorry, but unable to help. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Con shrugs. "I realized a couple weeks ago that when I talked to people, I was reading lips more than hearing them so I figured I better have it checked out."

"Would hearing aids help?"

Con sighs. "Not for the left ear - it's totally gone. For the right, yeah, and I'm already looking into that possibility."

"Did the doctor think it would get worse?"

"He said it was an obvious weakness, but he seemed to think that it would be a pretty slow progression as long as I didn't get any more injuries or infections."

Reese leans forward on his desk, resting his arms to fold his hands. "So. You gonna keep letting that be your excuse? Or are you going to admit your real reasoning and face it like a man?"

Con throws Reese a withering look. "Nicely put."

"Well? That's the bottom line, isn't it?"

"I don't know, Reese. If I said yes, where would you put me?"

"I'd put you to work on some research that's been sitting around. I'd get you to make some outside contacts I've wanted. And, I'd make sure you got the rust and kinks worked out since you've been gone so I can put you on the top of the list for lookout and sniper."

Con's eyes widen. "You can't put me back out there," he argues. "Even if I admitted that I was using my hearing loss as an excuse, you still can't put me back in the field. You said so yourself when you first found out."

Reese shrugs. "I don't think you should be a bodyguard again. And I don't necessarily think you should be in the thick of things if they get intense. But I don't have a problem with you being the eyes for everyone at a distance."

Con doesn't dare hope. "But even if I'm out on top of a building somewhere, keeping an eye on things, anyone could sneak right up behind me and I'd never know."

"Well I didn't say you'd be alone."

"Who would I team up with?"

"I don't know!" Reese sits back in his chair and shakes his head. "I don't have all the answers for you Con, because I don't know what's going to happen next week. We might not have a mission for two months. I doubt it, but who knows. But when the time comes, I got my sights on you and Jason. You always did make a good team, and both of you are qualified snipers."

"Jase is even better than I am with that."

"That doesn't mean you're poor," Reese states flatly. "I'd put you up against anyone on the police force any day."

"I thought you were teaming up Jason and Katie."

"Well I am. They make quite a pair, let me tell you. But I'm not going to box myself in with set teams all the time that I can't split up. Jason will have to be flexible as will Katie. Besides that, those two can talk to each other whether they're together or not."

Con sighs deeply. "So what are you saying, Reese?"

"I'm saying you have a place here if you want it. I'm asking you to come back."