Clean?

Reese takes a deep breath, trying to maintain some control of the situation, though he hardly felt in charge at the moment. His eyes watch Phinox leave, then he looks back at the small group of agents. It hurt just seeing their faces.

Moving slowly, he positions himself in front of the screen to end the torture of seeing Katie. "I know this is a difficult time for all of us," he states strongly. "But now more than ever, we need to keep our heads. If any of you think you can't handle this case, then no one will think less of you, and you are free to leave." He pauses, leaving opportunity for anyone to excuse themselves. No one does.

"Phinox is putting together a plan that we should hear. I don't know how many of us will be needed, but we should all know what's going on at least. So... please... we need to go to the meeting room now to discuss this case. Thank you."


Laura sniffs and finally backs away from Nate, wiping her eyes and trying to compose herself. She looks up at him for a moment, mustering up her courage. She was stronger than this... and even if she wasn't, she had to be. Simply giving a little nod, she follows Reese down the hall.

Con slips his arm around Jamie, giving he a squeeze. He appreciated her presence... the comfort she was trying to offer. She knew how special Katie was to him. He leans down to kiss the top of her head before turning her to walk with him to the meeting room. He wasn't going anywhere. He'd started with this and wasn't going to leave anyone high and dry, even if they wound up not needing him.

Once the group has moved down the hall, Ryder stares after them, lost in his own thoughts for several moments. His mind wanders to many places, finally landing on Australia. Sometimes he wished he were back home... apart from all of this turmoil. Finally shaking his head, he follows the others.


Jason was far from having himself together in a state to think, but he has to. He might not have an assignment at this point, but if there was anything he could think of... any way he could help, he had to do it. He knows the others are going to have a meeting, and Derek had just left his office to go as well. But he sat alone, trying to recover from seeing Katie and receiving her words to him.

Getting up to get a drink of water, he hears voices outside of his office and stops, listening for a moment.

"I think you should tell him."

"Not now. He's already going through enough."

"But he has a right to know!"

"I just don't think it's a good idea!" Rick shakes his head at Derek. "It's been hard enough keeping him stable without this."

Derek frowns. "Jason should be told. He has just as much right to know as the rest of us."

"It's not wise! We'll tell him when he's more stable."

"Tell me what?" Jason comes around the corner and leans on the doorway, folding his arms across his chest. He looks back and forth between his father and Rick, with an expression of annoyance mixed with question. His eyes were bloodshot from tears and he was hurting too much to care about protocol. The hall became quiet.

Rick looks down, then to Derek, then back to Jason, finally sighing in defeat. The meeting was waiting. He had to talk quickly so as not to waste time. "We noticed that they haven't been giving Katie any more shots."

For a moment, Jason doesn't understand why this is such a big deal. Then it hits him. His eyes widen. "But... but I've still got my last dose in me. I'm not due for hours yet."

Rick purses his lips grimly. "I know. It appears Katie has already lost consciousness."

"Well, we have to get it out of my system."

"We can't. Not easily anyway." Rick shakes his head. "Drink a lot of fluids and I can give you something to flush your system. Isn't going to be fun, but it will help speed up the process. It will still take several hours though."

Jason's emotions start to churn. "I shouldn't have taken the antidote in the first place."

"You had to," Rick states flatly. "We would have lost you if we hadn't."

"Then I should have hung on for longer!" Jason snaps.

"It wasn't an option!"

"How do we know?! Now Katie's life is on the line and it's because I couldn't handle it without the antidote! I should have done something different!"

"You didn't have a choice!"

"Yes I did!" Jason's eyes fill with fresh tears all over again. "I should have been stronger!"

"Jason..." Derek's quiet voice interrupts. He waits until Jason looks at him. "You're only human. You may have a gift, but in the end, you're still just a man. If you hadn't taken the antidote, you'd probably be dead by now... then who would be here for Katie once she gets home?"

One she gets home... Jason's hope was slowly dwindling. Calming down, he looks back to Rick. "Give me whatever you need to give me to speed this thing up. Even if it only speeds it up by an hour, that's an hour more than we had."

Rick takes a deep breath, and nods, knowing better than to argue. "Stay in your office like Reese wants. After we have a plan, we'll get you taken care of."


...As everyone gathers in the meeting room, they all take their seats, looking to Phinox expectantly. Derek and Jay exchange glances, knowing that they might very well be put at risk, but both willing. They look to Phinox as well, as their only connection to the Agency and ultimately, to Katie. Everyone wondered why he hadn't not rescued her when he'd been able to bring back Gage.


Carson sinks back down into the chair, his tired eyes staring back at the screen once again. Oh how he wanted this to be over. He was beginning to loath this job. All he wanted to do was break down. But he couldn't... not yet.


As Hope's words hit Scott's ears, he just stares at her. At first, no emotion is present, just a confusion. Then reality hits him. There was only on reason Katie would say something like that to him. Finally the tears start to form. Katie didn't know he was a traitor... it was best that way.

He tries to swallow the lump in his throat. Feeling Hope's hand on his, he doesn't move, not really sure what to do or what to say.

Eventually, he moves away from her touch, rolling over, then pulling himself up to sit, tucking his legs up close to his chest to hide his face in his knees. His body hurt all over from the recent beating, but his heart hurt even more. And there was no medicine for that kind of pain.

"You don't have to stay, you know," he mumbles without looking up.


Mick's eyes glance up as the small figure enters the tack room, though he keeps on working. As BJ reaches up to help, a grim spreads on his face.

Hearing about the apples and the tooth, Mick chuckles. "How about when you "have" more money?" He ruffles the young boy's hair, giving him a teasing correction on the grammar he'd been working with him lately.

He lets BJ share the saddle soap he was using, then returns to gently rubbing the leather. "A quarter won't get you too many apples there, bud. How about you and I take a ride to town and get a whole bag of 'em? I know some other horses that would like a treat too."


It was early afternoon, and the sun was warm. The road had been a long one today with few stops. Rising early, they'd barely conversed over breakfast, then had hit the road once again. Before the team reaches their destination though, the bus pulls off into a small rest area with bathrooms and a picnic area. As they come to a stop, Hunter is the first out of the bus, and he jogs over to Alice's jeep, motioning for her to roll her window down.

He flashes her a smile and leans on the door. "Hey, Shadow. We just got a call from the school we were headed for, and they've canceled programs for tonight. I guess the building had a major water leak and they just can't get everything together in time. So... we're gonna take it easy and just grab a hotel in the next town. Without this stop, we got a couple days now."

Hunter glances back to the bus, then to Alice again. "It's just as well, Kyle's not in great shape. I didn't think he looked so great this morning, and him being quiet wasn't exactly normal. I guess he's had a major headache all day. Got bad enough he threw up about an hour ago. Chloe was worried to the point that she wanted to take him to the next ER we came across, but that just made him mad. He wouldn't take anything, but he's down in his bunk. I'm kind of glad our event was canceled."

He pauses, lifting one eyebrow slightly. "When Chloe asked him if he needed anything, he um... muttered something like 'Alice threw it away.'" Hunter searches Alice's eyes. Over the course of their trip, he'd noticed a few things about Kyle that he'd never mentioned. They were all used to Kyle's ups and downs, but Hunter had seen more. "You gonna tell me what he meant, or do I have to tell Jordan that Kyle hasn't been totally clean?"