A bit of love

Though her voice was quiet, there was a braveness there. Ryder saw it and only wished things were different. He knew what it was like in the Agency... but even he had had high clearance, along with his brother. Being treated like a dog... that was something else altogether, and it was so very wrong. He didn't want Thirteen to just be carted off to jail like some of the others had been. She didn't deserve that. But how could they prove she was innocent?

Ryder gives her a crooked smile and brushes her cheek with his hand. "You just do the best you can, okay? Sit tight for a minute, I'll be right back." He knew he kept doing that, but he didn't want her in on the conversation he was going for.

Exiting the infirmary, he almost runs into Reese. But instead of talking her, he nods down the hall a ways. Once a fair earshot away from the infirmary, he stops and turns to his boss. "Look, I know you're just trying to protect what you got, but give me a chance with the girl, will ya?"

Reese crosses his arms, the rebuke flashing in his eyes. "We have a system here, Ryder. You've been part of the Elite for a while now, but you were far away and on your own most of the time. Around here, I can pull rank whenever I want, and under no circumstances are you allowed to just barge into something I'm doing, especially an interrogation!"

"What were you gonna do?" Ryder lashes out. "Let her bleed to death?"

"Her wounds weren't fatal and she did it to herself." Reese shakes his head. "I might have been able to use you to get to her but you had to come in and save the day, didn't you? Now she'll trust me even less."

"She doesn't trust anybody."

"Except you. Why?"

"I don't know." Ryder shrugs, just as bewildered. "Maybe because I care."

"I care too."

"And you show it by interrogating her? You can't deal with her that way. It has to be slow."

"So why are you qualified for psychology all of a sudden?"

Ryder rolls his eyes. "I didn't say I was. But look at her... she's not pretending. She's hurt and scared. All she needs is a bit of love."

"Love?" Reese's eyebrows shoot up. "This is not a dating service, Ryder! This is-"

"I didn't mean it that way, and you know it!" Ryder throws up his arms. "If my hunch is right, Thirteen has never been shown any kind of love at all. If we want to show her we're different, we're gonna have to prove it."

Reese sits back for a moment, just thinking. He hated to admit that Ryder had just struck a chord. Perhaps Ryder was not an active Christian, but he certainly had just reminded Reese of what being a Christian was all about. His temper begins to cool. "Okay."

"Okay, what?"

"Okay, we'll do things differently. I'll let her be your project." Reese purses his lips, thinking. "I'll give you a few weeks with her, maximum. If we get nothing, or it's proven that this has all been an act, she gets turned over to the police. Now... where is she going to stay?"

"She's already grown accustomed to the spare room if we can just keep using it."

"Will you lock the door?"

"I didn't want to."

"Then you'll have to spend your nights here, too."

Ryder quirks an eyebrow. He starts to argue, but then thinks of it again. He thinks of Laura. Maybe it would be better if he stayed here anyway.

Reese continues. "I'm making you completely responsible for her, Ryder. She makes trouble, or gets into trouble, then it's your neck that's on the line. Do you understand this?"

"Yes." Ryder nods. He knew this was a bit risk, but he couldn't just feed Thirteen to the wolves. Somehow in that van on their way back from getting Katie, something had happened. He and Thirteen had connected, and he couldn't just forget about that now. She needed help. And if he was it, so be it.

"Fine. I expect you to report to me every day." Before the discussion can continue, Reese spins on his heel and walks the other way, heading back to his office.

Ryder lets out a long sigh. Well... this is what he wanted, right? Thinking a moment, he heads for the main floor, passing by the infirmary. If this was the way it was going to be, then he had one more thing to do first.

It's fifteen minutes before he finally shows back up in the infirmary again. He'd trusted Thirteen would still be there, and she was, right where he'd left her. He wondered if he told her to stand on one foot, holding a glass of water for an hour, if she'd do it just because he'd told her to.

He offers her a warm smile and cocks his head for her to follow her. "Come on. You're not going to have to talk to Reese anymore. Just me, okay? But first..."

He leads the way a couple doors down to the women's bathroom, and holds out to her what he'd had in his arms. Susanne had helped him out with this one. There was a clean set of clothes that might be just a little big for Thirteen, but they would do. Undergarments, a t-shirt, jeans and even socks. On top of the clothes was some soap and some women's shampoo and conditioner. Susanne had even found a comb and a toothbrush with paste.

"Here. You can use the shower... there's clean towels in there, and take your time. There's no hurry."


Jason jumps as his phone vibrates in his pocket. Lifting his head from beside Katie, he lets go of her hand and leans back in the chair, fishing for his phone. He answers it sleepily. "Yeah?"

"Jason? It's Wyatt."

"Oh... hi. What's up?"

Wyatt could tell he'd woken his friend and he felt badly, but Jason had said he could be on call if needed. "First, how's things there?"

"Same."

Wyatt didn't need to ask more. He knew Jason was already getting tired of saying that, even after one day. "Okay. Well, listen, we got Trooper over here at the office and-"

Jason groans. "I forgot he was there. I thought I had him at home. My neighbor usually feeds him when I'm gone."

"It's okay. He's here and he's being taken care of by Ryder mostly."

"If he's trouble, take him to my place and throw him in the backyard."

"No, actually he's wanted here. The girl we brought back... she's pretty messed up. I guess Dad gave Ryder the go-ahead to work with her. Ryder doesn't want to lock her up, so he's planning on having Trooper keep an eye on her. I guess Trooper already got bored once and took up babysitting on his own, but Ryder wants to know if there's anything else he should do."

"Oh." Jason tries to clear his mind. "Um. He should be fine. Couple years ago I had him out and we wound up with an innocent bystander alongside the team. Trooper kept an eye on them and kept them out of the crossfire 'til we were safe."

"Yeah, I remember that. Does he have a command for that?"

"Just have Ryder tell him to 'watch.' I think he listens to Ryder okay, doesn't he?"

"He doesn't listen to anybody but you," Wyatt scoffs. "But Ryder seems to be able to talk to him alright, so I'll tell him. Anything else?"

"I don't think so. You say the girl's messed up?"

"Yeah, real scared. Doesn't know much. Pretty lost at the moment."

Jason nods. "I bet Trooper senses that, especially if he already took her on once. If he doesn't have anything to do, he goes looking for something and he must have found her. He doesn't like it when I'm not around to put him to work."

"So we've all noticed." Wyatt chuckles wryly. He was just glad Trooper wouldn't have to go home with him this time. "Okay, well that's all I wanted. I'll tell Ryder."

Hanging up, Wyatt sighs. One task down, one more to go. At least his mind was keeping busy instead of worrying about Katie. Though he did want to make sure he got off at a decent time tonight... he and Aerith had plans for dinner.

After telling Ryder what Jason had said, Wyatt grabs his keys and heads out.


Another picture is removed from the wall. Another is placed in a box. Smiles and fun times are wrapped in plastic, placed carefully on top of one another. A tear rolls down Laura's face, but she ignores it. She takes down another photo from the wall in the living room that had been covered in pictures for years.

"What are you doing?"

Laura's head whips around. She'd heard the front door, but had thought it was Ryder. Seeing Wyatt was a surprise. "Taking down pictures," she answers numbly. "What are you doing here?"

"Cardboard." Wyatt holds up a piece. "Ryder's spending the night at TJY so he wanted to make sure the windows over here got covered for the night."

"Oh." Laura turns back to her work. She'd wanted to apologize to Ryder for accidentally leading him on, but looked like it would have to wait.

Wyatt stands by awkwardly for a moment. He'd heard through the grapevine about the little spat earlier in the day, but wasn't sure if he should say anything or not. He opts to just get to work on the windows, but Laura's strange actions cause him to stop. "Why... are you taking the pictures down?"

"Because." Laura runs her fingers over a photo of her and Con and Jason. "All these... they're all over. None of it exists anymore."

Wyatt wanders closer. "I don't get it."

Laura sighs as she rubs her thumb across Jason's smile. "It's an old life, Wyatt... maybe it's one I spend too much time living in." Turning around, she adds another picture to the box. Pausing, she looks up at Wyatt, her eyes red and tired. "How can I be so blind?"

"Um... about what?"

"Oh, never mind."

"No, it's okay." Wyatt sets aside thoughts of the windows for now. "What are you talking about?"

"Like you haven't heard."

"Oh." Wyatt shrugs. "Well... "

"It was my fault." Laura takes down another photo, looking at the picnic scene. Another tear escapes. "Ryder was just so nice and sweet and... I didn't mean anything... but I guess... I guess he liked me and I didn't see it and then I made Nate mad and now..." She takes a deep breath, feeling silly for venting to Wyatt. She places the photo in her box. "Sorry. Don't mind me."

Wyatt feels a bit lame, not knowing what he could say. "I guess if it will make you feel any better, I don't think Ryder was head over heels for you. I mean... who doesn't like you? I bet even though he knew you were Nate's, he just couldn't help being a little too nice to ya, know what I mean?"

Laura can't help a soft chuckle at Wyatt's honesty. "I just hope I didn't hurt his feelings."

"Nah." Wyatt waves her off, trying to make her feel better. "I'm sure it didn't feel great, but it wasn't like you broke his heart or anything." At least that seemed to be the case, according to his observations of Ryder's behavior during the day. He figured Ryder was the type to just forget it and move on.

"Yeah..." Laura takes a hammer to pull a nail out of the wall. Maybe Ryder was okay... but Nate wasn't.

Wyatt stands for a moment, then turns back towards the front of the house. "I'll cover your windows and leave you at it."

"Mm-hmm." Laura stares at her half-full box. She wonders if she is the only one who is miserable. Was Nate as unhappy as she was? Was he at home, upset like she was, or had this been the break he'd been looking for, and was finally feeling free of her?


Gage sits on the floor, curled up tightly in the corner, his arms wrapped around his knees. He’d been shaking for the last four hours straight, and his body aches. His was drenched in sweat and cold. He felt as though he would either throw up or pass out, which wouldn’t be too bad… at least if he was unconscious, he wouldn’t be aware of what his body was going through. One shot… one shot would cure him… just one shot. His mind wouldn’t focus on anything else.


Alec paced his cell. He was more than stir crazy and it was getting worse. His cell seemed to be closing in on him. All he wanted was out. He’d heard bits and pieces about the case with Katie, so he knew everybody had been busy and distracted, but he was being ignored and he didn’t like it. Hal still fed him, but that was the extent of his outside contact. Not having a clock was driving him doubly crazy.


Reese sits in his office, pouring over paperwork until he has to take a break. Leaning back in his chair, he taps his pencil on his desk, too stressed to go home yet. Gage. Alec. Thirteen. What were they supposed to do with people like them? Scott. Jamie. Katie. Why did their agents continue to be picked off and tortured? And what was to become of them? It felt like they needed something more… something was missing. Reese felt like the Elite was lacking… but what was it?