No However

Though Scott still refuses to look at Hope, he feels horrible. Her tone was just as kind as always, even though he'd just told Rick to get her out of the infirmary.

Hearing her start to leave, his pulse quickens. Another tear escapes. He was so confused.

Rick heaves a heavy sigh as Hope begins to leave. "I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I thought he would talk. I'm sorry I wasted your time." He gestures to the door, letting her go.

"I need a friend."

The whimper was almost too quiet to hear, but Rick whirls around to Scott. His young friend still had his back turned. Rick looks to Hope, then back again. "What?"

Scott curls up in a tighter ball. He didn't like it here with everybody around. He didn't like any of this. His body hurt all over and his heart hurt too. But Hope had been the only one that could rescue him before. "Don't go," he asks quietly. His eyes were still shut tight, and he swallows hard, wincing as his lip starts to bleed again. "I need a friend."

Alec has been watching from the bed in the corner and he rolls his eyes. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he stands up, heading for the door.

"Whoa whoa whoa." Rick stops him, standing in his way. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out of here," Alec answers casually as if he didn't really care. "I don't want to have to listen to a blubbering traitor. Besides, the shrink would probably want privacy anyway."

Rick glares at him. "I don't care what you want or don't want, but for that, you're heading back to the holding cell." He grabs Alec's arm and starts to push him into the hall. "Move!"

Alec laughs and calls over his shoulder to Misty. "Hey, sweetheart, don't forget to call my sister for me!"


Though hearing everything from Nate, Jay and Derek are still confused. Everything was thrown at them so fast... neither knew what to think.

Then hearing of Katie's torture, Derek shrinks back a little, but it's Jay's face that pales. He was scared to find out the truth. Bravely though, both men follow Nate several feet further.

Carson turns slightly, hearing Nate's request. He hesitates. But at least both Rod and Gage weren't in the room at the moment, and Katie seemed fairly calm. Carson eyes Derek and Jay. Derek was easy to pick out - Jason and Austin looked so much like him. And Jay... Carson knew him from the Agency files. He moves his chair back out of the way, so they can see.

"Oh, Katie." Tears fill Jay's eyes and he takes a step closer. Images of his daughter as a little girl flash in his mind. He reaches his hand out towards the computer as if hoping he could touch her.

Derek lays a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get her out."

"I'll do anything," Jay states flatly. He turns back to Nate. "If they want me, I'll go."


Kyle jumps as Alice comes up so quickly next to him, but he doesn't resist her arm around her shoulder. Instead, he leans back into her, giving a short laugh. "You have a point." He turns his head to look her in the eye, slinging his arm around her too.

Leaning down slightly, he rests his forehead against hers. "However..."

His words trail off. All of a sudden, he realizes that he didn't have a real "however." Why was he relying on these pills?

He swallows hard and lets Alice go, leaning back against the bricks again. "I... I can't." A tinge of frustration appears in his voice this time. "I just..."

The battle is obvious in Kyle's eyes. He'd never faced something like this before. He'd never gotten down like he had... After the band trouble, and Misty, and not feeling needed... and now...

He bites his lip and hooks his thumbs in his jeans pockets. "No... there is no 'however' is there?" He scoffs at himself and looks down at the ground. "I got on the boat and now I can't seem to get off again." It was as close as he wanted to come to admitting that the pills he'd been taking had been habit forming.


A taxi pulls up to the auto garage and the young woman steps out, taking her backpack with her and paying the driver. As the car drives away, she turns and just stares at the shop for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she finally starts forward.

Getting into the office, she looks around, but sees no one. There were no customers waiting today and the room was quiet. She looks out through the glass door into the garage and sees several mechanics working on vehicles. One was talking, another laughing and one was… exactly who she was looking for.

Bypassing any rules about customers in the shop, she pushes the door open and enters the garage. The smell of oil hits her nose and the loud sounds almost make her jump.

One of the men was on his back underneath a car and he cranes his neck around to look up and back. “Hey guys, we got a beauty in here!”

Her face turns a shade of red, but she grins. “You better watch the car you’re working on instead of me, or you’re never going to fix that leak.”

“Leak?” Leo looks back under the car to see oil running out of the hose he’d been working with. “Awww man!”

Axel glances up from the engine he was leaning into, trying to see what was going on at the other end of the shop as a couple of the guys snickered at Leo. Catching sight of the visitor, his eyes widen. “What on earth?”

She finally sees him and her grin widens into a genuine smile. “Axel!” Dropping her backpack, she skirts around the other guys to run up to Axel and throw her arms around his neck.

“Whoa there, kiddo!” Axel laughs and returns her hug. “What on earth are you doing here? You’re gonna get covered in grease.”

Liz pulls away and giggles. “Sorry. I was just so glad I came to the right place. I was afraid I’d get here and be so lost.”

“Yo, Axel, who is this pretty little thing?” By now, Leo is out from under the car, wiping his hands on a rag.

Axel quirks an eyebrow at him. “Down, boy.”

Liz can’t help her sheepish grin as she throws Leo a wink. “He likes to protect me.”

“I see that. Last I saw though, he already had a girlfriend.”

Axel slings a protective arm around Liz’s shoulders. “I do already have a girlfriend, Liz is like a sister, and she’s just a kid so lay off.”

Liz elbows Axel, but is enjoying every minute of it. “I’m seventeen and I came all this way by myself – one of these days you’ll see I’m not a kid.”

“Never.” Axel laughs, giving her a kiss on the forehead. But then he stops. “Wait… by yourself? What are you doing here?”

Leo sees that there is going to be a bit of a tense conversation, so he backs off, though his eyes stay on Liz until he bumps into Jed, who turns him around and gives him a shove back to the car.

Liz bites her lip and looks up at Axel hesitantly. “I, um… followed Dad here.”

“Your dad? Why? Is he in town?”

“Yes. He got a call from the Elite but they wouldn’t tell him why. He just had to leave in a hurry early this morning.”

“Wow.” Axel tries to process the information. “And you?”

“Um… I… I was worried about him. And… I knew you were here…”

“Liz…” Axel looks at her sternly. “Do you parents know you’re here?”

“Um… no?”

“Liz!”

“Well I knew they wouldn’t approve! Mom wouldn’t want me to come by myself and Dad wouldn’t want me worrying about him.”

“And that’s a good reason for you not to have come!”

“I…” Liz swallows hard, her face growing red with her embarrassment. “I know… it was stupid of me wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” Axel shakes his head. “You’re going in the office right now and calling your mom. Then you’re getting on the next plane home.”

“But…” Liz pleads with him. “Since I’m here… I thought I’d wait to make sure Dad was okay and… and sightsee?”

Axel’s eyes narrow. There was something more. “Sightsee?”

“Sure.”

“What is there to see? Or who?”

Liz looks down. “I thought since… since I was here… maybe I might get to see…”

Axel reaches out and tilts her chin up. He sighs deeply. “Jason?”

“Maybe?”

Axel sets his hands on his hips and thinks for several moments. “Call your mom first… if she wants you to go home, you go home. If she says you can wait for your dad then… you can come to my place.”

Liz squeals and throws her arms around him again. “Thank you, Ax.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Get in the office and call your mom right now. Jess is gonna be here any minute and I want this settled before she is.”