Pretending perfection

Mackenzie looks up quickly as Misty enters the kitchen, and a smile comes to her face. She already liked her father's girlfriend.

"Well, special pizza we do have," Carson greets, wrapping an arm around Misty's waist. "Lucky for us we don't have to walk or else it would get cold on the way home."

"You don't have a car?" Mackenzie questions.

"Nope." Carson shakes his head. "Not at the moment."

Hearing the movies Misty has, Mackenzie grins. "I've wanted to see those. They look really funny."

A timer dings, breaking up the conversation, and Carson lets Misty go so he can check on the pizza. "Lookin' good, if I do say so myself," he comments wryly. Getting the pizza in a box only takes a couple minutes, and soon the three are walking out the front door, Carson locking up for the night. The air is cool, but not cold, the light turning dim as evening descends.

Heading for Misty's car, Carson spots a parked vehicle across the street. It had been there three hours ago when he'd looked out the window, and there was still someone behind the wheel.

Getting Mackenzie in the backseat with the pizza, Carson slides into the passenger side, going for his seatbelt. "Heather's eyes," he mutters under his breath. "I hope you don't get dragged into this."

The ride to Carson and Dani's apartment is a quiet one, Mackenzie remaining fairly silent, focusing more on watching her dad than anything else. Once they arrived, it was in and up the stairs and into the apartment.

Mackenzie looks around, taking it all in. Wandering into the living room, she spots a picture frame and makes a beeline for it. There was Carson and Misty, an older picture of a couple, then a young blonde woman. "Is this Dani?"

Carson looks from the kitchen and nods. "Yeah."

"Who are these other people?"

Carson grabs a couple glasses, and nods to the fridge where Misty can get their drinks. He wanders to the end table beside the couch, looking down at the picture frame that was Dani's from years ago. "That would be your grandparents, kid."

Mackenzie studies the faces. "Where are they?"

"They're dead." Carson moves around to set things down on the coffee table, not letting the conversation continue. "Alright, pick the movie we're gonna watch first."

With all three sitting down, Carson makes a point of praying for the food, and when he's finished, Mackenzie eyes him skeptically. "Bad guys don't usually pray," she comments.

Carson quirks an eyebrow and starts divvying out the pizza. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. But I think Heather was wrong about you." She lets her statement end the brief encounter, plopping down to take her plate and timidly take her first bite of pizza.

It isn't long before all three are settled on the couch in front of the television, laughing at the movie, and Mackenzie thoroughly enjoying the meal.

Finished eating, Carson leans back, in between Misty and Mackenzie. He was glad for the movie. While things with Mackenzie weren't going horribly, he still was uncomfortable and extremely awkward. The droning television made it easy not to talk much.

Reaching down, he finds Misty's hand, a wry grin surfacing that only she could see. This was probably the first time they hadn't cuddled up together while watching a movie. Feeling movement on his other side, he looks down quickly to find that Mackenzie had finished eating as well, and was now contentedly sitting back with her head resting on his shoulder.

He swallows hard, trying to keep the rampant thoughts out of his mind. What was he doing? What would happen now? He couldn't have been right to do this. But he wouldn't have wanted her to spend the night in some strange facility. But....

A deep sigh follows. He wished he could talk to Misty about all of this right now, but at the moment, they would just have to watch the movie, laugh and pretend for a brief moment of time that everything was perfect.


Getting out of the shower, Axel discovers he has a message waiting for him. Hearing Jess' voice, he grins a little. It was as if within the last week, the door to communication had swung wide open. He didn't mind talking to her as much, and she had really opened up. It was new. It was fun. It felt good.

Knowing he need not call her back, Axel unpacks a few more things, finding his good black jeans and his white collared shirt. Tucking it in, he finds his belt and finishes up. With the top button undone on his shirt, someone might be able to just see that he still wore his dogtags. But the significance remained with him alone.

Slapping on some cologne and slipping into his black boots, Axel grabs his keys and is out the door. He'd left a message for Darrel earlier, asking to meet with him in the morning. Tonight though, he wasn't going to worry about it.

Fifteen minutes later, he's pulling into the parking lot at Jess' apartment to pick her up. He doesn't honk the horn - he didn't want to rush her.


Scott almost jumps out of his skin as the phone rings. Domino flies off his lap, landing on her feet on the floor and looking back at him, bewildered. He blinks, realizing that he'd been in his own little world, and it took him a moment to distinguish the sound.

Grabbing the cell phone, he looks at the number. Odd. She never called him. He answers it though, wondering what was up. "Hello... Hope?"


Ryder looks up and grins as Katie joins him in the kitchen. "A ride to work sounds great, though I'm not convinced Reese likes my boredom running rampant around the TJY building. I think he's probably been quite satisfied to leave me out of the picture and out of his hair."

Tossing the paper aside, he cocks his head. "Staying home for supper?" he asks hopefully. "If you don't, Henry will have a mighty fine meal."