Garbage

Jason finally gets to his feet after a little while of basic work on the computer. Fastening the leash on Trooper's collar, he leads the giant dog down the hall and to the main floor. But he doesn't go to the exit. Instead, he aim for the cubicle where Ryder and Thirteen were.

Ryder looks up as Jason approaches. "Well, g'day."

Jason nods. "I just... thought maybe Thirteen would like Trooper's company. He could use the attention." Letting Trooper go, the dog enters the cubicle to stick his face up into Thirteen's, giving her a wet kiss.

Jason grins a little before looking to Ryder again. "Did you... see Katie this morning?"

"Naw, mate, sorry. Checked on her before we left, but she was still in bed."

"Oh... okay." His shoulders drooping just a little, Jason heads back towards his own office again.


Landon grins at Charlotte, sticking around for just a few minutes longer. Seeing husband and wife distracted by each other, he slowly slips away.

Bret chuckles. "Wild rides are the best kind, right?" He sighs deeply, sore today. Every injury seemed to hurt, but he tries to ignore it. "So... out of work early today?"


Alec cocks his head to one side, lifting an eyebrow and giving Hope a once-over. "You're the shrink?" He shrugs. "Not bad, and of course I know why I'm here, I'm not an idiot."

He tilts back in his chair, then lets go, letting the legs drop back down loudly on the floor. "I'm here because I was with the Agency and now they're trying to decide what to do with me." He smirks. "It's nice to be something no one knows what to do with. It's like a piece of garbage that you really don't want to throw away because maybe you'll use it sometime, but it really isn't worth the space it takes up to keep it. So you wind up taking it to the dump."

He shrugs lamely, his eyes dull. He was so full of anger, but something deep, deep down had been broken. He wouldn't admit it. No, he wouldn't admit that he had been vulnerable enough to have anything broken, let alone his spirit. He would fight tooth and nail to escape, but on the inside... he knew it wouldn't matter. Here, he was a criminal. With the Agency, he was a dead man. Maybe he'd been stupid with Ryan, but the root of his actions still existed. Would he hurt those at TJY? Was he a risk? He was teetering on the fence, not knowing which side to fall on. But one thing was sure - he wanted to take care of himself.

"So don't bother wasting time on me," he ads gruffly. "All you'll do is find out I belong behind bars like the rest of the street dogs and that'll be that. Unless you're getting paid by the hour and want to stick around. If that's the case though, you should have brought a deck of cards."