Books, supper, sleepy

The movie was over. The laughter had died away. A more fun night never had existed. Some had gone home, some had stayed. Chatter, more laughter and popcorn fights and followed even after the movie, until the hour had grown late enough to bring tiredness.

Kyle flops down across the bed that would be Alice's, on his stomach. "I'm too tired to go to bed," he mumbles into the fluffy comforter. Rolling onto his back, he cranes his neck to look at Alice, a silly grin on his face. "I'm having fun."

He needed to go down the hall to his own room - the others were on their way to bed too. But he was too hyped up to settle down just yet.

"I hope you're having fun, too."


Down the hall, behind a closed door, voices could be heard. One was familiar, the other was not. They were too muffled to understand unless one was in the room with them. But as Erik wanders to his own room, he stops. He cocks his head an listens before bristling. Turning around he aims for Kip's room instead, and he doesn't stop to knock. Barging in, a glare is already on his face.

Kip jumps from his chair, along with a young woman, dressed for a night on the town. "Erik, what do you think you're doing?!"

Erik ignores him and looks to the woman. "You're not welcome here, Whitney."

Her eyes narrow and she folds her arms, cocking her head with a little flash of arrogance. "So I heard. Whatcha gonna do? Call your daddy?"

Kip rolls his eyes and looks at her. "Whit, just-"

"Just what? This family is dictating you and you know it. Why don't you split like we talked about?"

Erik sets his hands on his hips, anger flashing in his eyes. "Kip? Is that what you want? If it is, you better decide now."

"No, that's not what I want." Kip's shoulders drop, frustration showing as heat crawls into his face. "Just-"

"There is no just," Erik states flatly. "Whitney, you may see yourself out now."

She glares at Erik, then throws a look to Kip. "You gonna let him do this to me?"

"Well I..."

Whitney scoffs. "You got the spine of a jellyfish, Kip. Forget it. I'm outta here."

"No, Whitney, wait -"

Erik reaches out to take Kip's shoulder. "Either you let her go, or you're out, Kip. I'm serious and you know it."

Kip swallows hard, torn between the two people. Watching Whitney slip back out to the balcony and around the way she'd climbed up, he turns to Erik, irritation evident on his face. "Thanks for nothing."

Erik maintains his sternness. "I thought we resolved this, Kip."

"Whatever." Kip goes and throws himself down on his bed. "Out of my room."

"Look, we-"

"Out!"

"Fine." Erik throws up his arms. "But this is the last time. She comes here again, and you'll have to deal with the consequences." Shutting the door behind him, he stands in the hall, heaving a deep sigh. He hated tough love.

Kip groans into his pillow, then rolls over to grab his phone. He starts to dial, then stops, hesitating for what felt like eternity before hanging up again.

Erik ambles down the hall, heading back downstairs. He needed to tell his father, just out of respect. Nothing had happened this time, so Kip would be alright, but... things couldn't keep going like this. Ever since a month ago when Kip had been caught with Whitney in a compromising situation, Whitney had not been allowed on the premises. She had no intention of changing, and her behavior was unacceptable in this house. Unfortunately, she'd influenced Kip, and he was having a hard time giving up a kind of life he'd just barely tasted.


Jade grins and shrugs. "Not much. I like to watch a good movie... listen to music... Otherwise, a nice walk will curb my boredom."

Sitting back, she lets some of her food settle, looking around the restaurant. It felt good to be out and have some good company.


"Alright, there you are." It had been several hours, and Scott was standing next to the table and monitors. "Reese has several people scouting things out now, taking one channel through the police so we don't just trample over the top of them. Once they get a lead, the team will go in and they'll tune in so you can see what's going on and communicate with them."

Scott points things out to Mick as he talks. "Your headset is there, monitor one will be first option, monitor two if the team splits or if something goes wrong with one."

Mick nods, taking in everything. "Thanks, Scott. This is great."

"No problem." Scott looks at his watch. "And I need to get out of here before I miss my flight."

"Not flying Elite?"

"No jet available." Scott grimaces a little. "I gotta be back in the office tomorrow though, so I get the last short flight out of here."

Mick extends his hand. "Appreciate all of this. Tell Reese thanks, and I'll call him tomorrow."

"Sounds good." Scott looks around at the dining hall that was filling with people for supper. His eyes go down to see BJ once again and he holds out his hand to give him five. "Later, Beej. Stay out of trouble."

Getting to the airport a while later, Scott sits, waiting. His nerves were running high. On the way down here, he'd had the luxury of a private Elite jet. But right now, he was left alone in a crowd of people, and it wasn't his cup of tea. He still didn't do to well alone in crowds, and tonight was no exception.

Picking up the phone, he dials, waiting to hear Hope's voice. "Hey, it's me..." He glances around a little nervously. "Just needed to hear a familiar voice before this crowd at the airport swallowed me up."


Though it wasn't quite time for supper or evening chores yet, Mick paces the dining hall. Dan and Jade weren't back yet. Someone said Dan just needed to run a few errands, but how long did he need? Mick was tempted to call Jade's phone, but thought better of it. No, he'd talk to her when she got back. Why he had to worry about this too, he didn't know. He had enough on his mind without her purposely going against what she knew he wanted.


Gunner nods lamely and manages to move so they both can get up off the floor. Fumbling in the dark for a moment, he almost knocks over the lamp he was looking for. Turning it on, he's wondering if he'll be sorry he did - he was sure he looked like a mess. But then... Bree had seen him worse than this.

The small light illuminates the living room just enough to see, revealing a fairly well-kept apartment, other than a shelf of DVDs that was in dire need of organizing. Leading the way to the couch just a few feet away, Gunner flops down in the corner, closing his eyes for a long moment, still trying to regain some focus.

A whole stack of astronomy books were on the end table, proving his hobby wasn't just something he did once in a while. Finally moving again, Gunner picks one book out of the stack and hands it to Bree. "This is one of my favorites. The guy who wrote it is real down to earth and he's a Christian so he actually talks about God. Has a lot of good pictures, too."

...Gunner didn't know when he fell asleep. It hadn't been long after Bree had started reading though. So tired, he just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.


"Hey, guys!" Eli comes into Ryan's place, plastic bags rustling in his hands.

Leo jumps, having been asleep, curled up with Ryan on the couch.

Eli comes up behind the couch and peers down over them, a grin on his face. "I brought Chinese back for supper." It was late, but Eli had a hunch the other two hadn't eaten yet, and he was right.

Leo lifts his eyebrows and looks to Ryan. "I think I could go for that."

Eli heads to the kitchen to take the food out of the bags, the aroma filling the air. "Kitchen or living room?" he calls over his shoulder.

"Living room," Leo answers. He was so stiff from sleeping all afternoon that just staying here seemed a pretty good idea. He ruffles Ryan's hair. "You should've woke me up sooner so I'd have at least been halfway sociable this afternoon."