Games

Eli complies with everything, never questioning Amanda's decisions. He knew Ryan's life was in their hands, and he had to trust them.

JT gives Amanda a little grin and nods. "Yeah, coffee sounds good. I'll join ya."

Walking with her to the lunch room, JT poors their coffee and then eases down in a chair across from her. "I can tell this is gonna be a long day already," he muses, shaking his head. "So tell me... We work in the same hospital but hardly cross paths. What keeps you busy outside of this place?"


Eli cooperates with the nurses, and once the blood they need for testing is drawn, he's free to go see Ryan. Slowly entering the room, he pauses, then goes to the bed. His leather chaps creak just a little as he sits on the edge of the bed. Staring down at his sister, his heart aches for more than one reason. Reaching out, he brushes her cheek with a rough hand. "Oh, Ryan..."


Reese nods quickly. "Yeah, JT was ok. Apparently, Gunner went to apologize to him. At first, JT was just gonna let it go, so that's why he waited, but then he decided he better report it. He didn't feel threatened but he knew Gunner wasn't supposed to be there. I went ahead and told him what had been happening on this end."


The doctor cocks his head. "Family."

"Failure."

"Love."

"Foreign."

"Hate."

"Madness."

"Peaceful."

"Hope."

The doctor stops and studies Gunner quietly. "Do you have hope?"

"No. I was referring to Hope Garrison." The corner of Gunner's mouth twitches. He was tired of the stupid word games.

"Killer."

Gunner sighs, relaying once again, the first word to come to mind. "Me."

"Truth."

"Gray."

"Friends."

"Elite."

"Betrayal."

"Friends."

"Brent."

"Alone."

The doctor pauses again. "You know you're not alone."

"Cut the crap, doc." Gunner shakes his head. "You think I don't know where you're going with this? All you're doing is trying to figure out who I am and how I think. It would be easier if you just asked."

"Hmm. Storm."

Gunner rolls his eyes to the ceiling, muttering under his breath. "You want games, I'll give you games."