Unexpected Visit... Unvoiced Longing

Jason is fully aware of his friends coming and going, and is grateful for each and every visit. Even so, he remains quiet, not saying much, and barely responding to them. Hope was slipping through his fingers, and each day, despair knocked louder on the door to his heart.

Downing a couple sugar pills, he sits back in the chair and continues to watch, wait and pray. He couldn't have an episode - physical or mental - now... not when he had no hero to rescue him. He could feel negative emotions getting backed up like water being forced not to flow as it hit a dam. He was doing it on purpose... he would not release them until Katie was awake... until she could handle it... until she needed those emotions, whether they were negative or not. Unfortunately, it was starting to wear on him. He knew it was dangerous, and he could feel the emotions starting to work on his mind as they tried to provoke images from the past to arise. But so far he had kept them at bay.

Katie, come home... please.

Thunder rolls outside. The jarring sound brings his thoughts back to his surroundings. Hearing voices in the hall, Jason cocks his head. Rosetta had been there for a while now and spent most of her time here with Jay. Today's conversation sounded different though...

Jason slowly rises and walks quietly to the door.


Jay turns away from Rosetta as she speaks. He knew what she was saying... and he knew it would come up. But it still tore at his heart like nothing else. A fresh tear surfaces. These past few weeks had been murder and he was growing tired. Was his sister right?

Turning back around, he locks eyes with Rosetta for a moment. "How can it be right? She could wake up any moment and.... and the doctor says there is still brain activity. I... I just... I already lost a wife and a son... I can't lose her too."

He swallows hard, his eyes begging his sister for any kind of comfort. The silence between them has a voice of its own, and the cold, hard truth could not be stopped. "But... I can't stand watching her suffer either." His shoulders drop. "Maybe it's time."

"Don't you even think about it."

Jay's head snaps up to Jason's voice. The younger man stands in the doorway, his arms crossed as if guarding the room. "Oh, Jason..." Jay sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry. But-"

"There is no but," Jason snaps. He glares between Jay and Rosetta both. "If you want to give up, then why don't you two just leave now?" A crack of thunder seems to seal his anger.

"It's not like that. You know-"

"All I know is that Katie's not dead yet." Jason can feel the heat rising to his face as his emotions boil inside of him. If he wasn't careful, someone could get hurt. He looks to Rosetta, his bloodshot eyes showing his desperation. Glancing back to Jay, his voice comes out as a threat. "You make that decision and you'll find out just what kind of damage I can do."

Jay sighs, trying to stay calm, and knowing that Jason was under a huge emotional burden. "Jason, don't talk like that. Just calm down and be realistic. What would Katie-"

"Think if we abandoned her?" Jason's eyes narrow. "Be it on your head." Spinning on his heel, he stalks back into the room, resuming his place in the chair.

Jay moans and paces a small circle, putting his head in his hands. "I can't do it... I just can't do it." He stops to look at Rosetta again. "One more week... just one more week."


Ryder dashes through the rain into TJY, pocketing the keys to the car he'd finally been able to buy. Heading down through the cubicles, he sees that most people are gone for the evening. He was a little later tonight. But he was trying to wean Thirteen from him just a bit. It was hard... it was taking longer to introduce her to life outside the Agency than he thought it would. He wouldn't mind, if Reese wasn't breathing down his neck about it. The young woman had such a sweet and innocent heart though... Ryder knew she had never wronged another person on purpose. If only she would learn to trust other people. For now though, it was still just him and Trooper. Even Rick hadn't been allowed into the small circle. Susanne was closer - Ryder figured it was because she was a woman, but there was still leeriness there on Thirteen's part.

Rapping his knuckles on the spare room door, Ryder waits a moment, giving Thirteen time to get herself together if need be, before he enters. Glancing down, he sees her with Trooper, and he gives a wry grin. "Are you ever going to sleep in bed like a normal person?" he teases.

Sighing from the long day, he lets himself in all the way, and flops down on the floor near Thirteen, his head resting back against the bed. He saw the remnants from supper and was glad that she'd eaten most of the lasagna that he'd fixed for her.

"Have you thought any more about staying somewhere else?" he asks. The last time he'd brought that up, Thirteen had panicked, but he tried to stay casual about it this time around. Slow and steady... that's what it woudl take, and he had the patience for it.

Grinning, he turns his head towards her. "You're too pretty to stay locked up all the time. You need to get out... meet more people. I know Reese isn't sure what will happen with you, but if you're let go, then you deserve better than this."


"No! No, no, no!" Laura wails and lets her head fall forward onto her steering wheel. The pouring rain was loud against her windsheild, but the vehicle was going nowhere.

"You big piece of junk!" Laura smacks her hand on the dashboard, but knows it won't do any good. She stares out into the rain and feels thunder shake the car. Her umbrella was at home. After Ryder had left, she'd decided to head for the store for some groceries. It wasn't until she'd left the driveway that the rain had started, and it had been coming down by the bucketfull ever since. And it wasn't until about forty seconds ago that she had discovered her cell phone battery was run completely down.

She'd missed her turn at one of the stop signs. She didn't know why... her mind just must have been somewhere else. But as a result, she'd ended up on this street. Why this street? Couldn't it have been any other street?

She groans. She thought she could hear God laugh during the next roll of thunder. "Yeah, you think this is pretty funny, don't you? I haven't had the guts to come here myself, so You decided You'd just get me here yourself. But did it have to be in the middle of this weather?!"

Laura grabs a few things from her purse to put in her pockets then takes a deep breath before getting out of her broken-down car. It would just have to sit here on the shoulder for a little while.

Jogging up onto the sidewalk, she sprints through the rain, running the half-block before turning up the familiar paved walk. Reaching the porch, she tries to catch her breath. She was soaked from head to toe, her dripping hair just adding to her drenched state.

Another little wail escapes her lips as she stares at the doorbell. Maybe he wouldn't even be home. No, his car was in the driveway. Well maybe he'd...

Laura stops thinking and just reaches out to press the doorbell. All she needed was to use the phone or a ride or something. Even though she and Nate hadn't been dating lately it wasn't like they were enemies. She knew he wouldn't leave her stranded. But just being here... like this... and knowing the things that had been running through her mind lately...

Waiting, she turns around to look out at the rain, her focus drifting to God again. "If You think I'm going to tell him now, then you're sorely mistaken," she mentions aloud, folding her arms stubbornly. With her back to the door, she forgets to listen for Nate, not knowing when or if it opened. "I know he's still mad at me so You can just forget it... there's no way... and besides, I.. I... I... well I don't know what." She growls at the clouds. "You could have sent me over here on a sunny day," she grumbles.


Crack.
Scott jumps, knocking over the bottle of paint and spilling it all over his desk. "Awww....." Domino whines and looks up at him as a drop of blue lands on her head.

"Yeah, sorry." Scott reaches down to clean her off, then sets about to clean up the rest of the mess he'd made.

"You alright?" Gunner asks, wandering across the living room.

"Yeah, yeah..." Scott sighs. "Just... jumpy."

"Isn't letting up either. I think the storm system stalled out over the top of us."

"Great." Scott couldn't help it that every time he heard thunder, for just an instant, his mind thought it was a gunshot. Picking up a small stack of papers, he was glad to see they hadn't gotten paint on them. Tucking them into a folder, he keeps the handwritten letters safe. "Did Carson say anything to you today?"

Gunner shakes his head. "Didn't see him. He's been swamped at Mom and Pop's this week so he hasn't been in to the office that I know of. Heard Mable was back on the job down there and I guess Herb was helping with some light work too. Carson says he still doesn't want to expand though... wants to keep it small. Guess he didn't want to have to hire out, but I see he's got his sister working a bit now during busy hours. Suppose that's his business, though I don't know how the place can run with just one cook. Dani and Aerith must help out back there as much as they waitress..."

Scott only half listens as Gunner rambles about Mom and Pop's. Carson had still found nothing. If nothing turned up within the next few weeks, he knew that the inevitable would happen.... his job at TJY would be terminated.


Mick stares down at BJ, his own eyes filling with sadness. He didn't have an answer. Taking a deep breath, he sets aside the work he was doing, and sits down on a bale of hay, inviting the boy to sit on his knee. Putting an arm around him, he ruffles his thick red hair, then takes his bandanna and wipes a dirt smudge off BJ's cheek.

"I don't know," he finally answers. "But if Katie goes to be with God... she will be very happy. Heaven is a happy place."

Leaning his head back against the wall, he tries to be strong in front of his adopted son. Even so, he knew that BJ would sense his own sorrow. The boy was a little slow in some areas of learning, but one thing he possessed was a heart that could feel other people's joy or sadness.

Mick gives him a light backrub. "And if we obey and follow God like we've been teaching you... then we will see her again one day. She won't be gone forever." He pauses, forcing a smile. "But keep praying, okay?"