Da!

"Hmm... well, I'm sure he won't bother you again." Eli focuses back on the card game, falling quiet for a little while until he eventually get up and stretches. "I'm gonna take a little stroll... I'll be back, alright?"

Ambling down the familiar hall, Eli nods to a few people that he'd seen while spending so much time here. Wandering downstairs, he glances into the cafeteria but decides he's not really hungry, then aims for the front desk. Sure enough, Leo was right on time.

Eli comes up casually beside him, leaning on the counter as Leo was apparently waiting for the nurse to look something up. "You don't strike me as a candy striper."

Leo swings his gaze around in surprise, his eyebrows raised. "Eli, right?"

Eli nods. Other than their heated exchange, they hadn't officially met. "You do have some strange habits, I'll give you that."

"What are you talking about?"

"When a man cares enough to come every day to check up on a girl, but hasn't the guts to see her face, she's better off without him."

Leo straightens, his eyes narrowing. He opens his mouth to retort, but Eli cuts him off.

"Don't blame me - I'm not the one making it obvious by hanging around here every day."

Leo turns and folds his arm over his chest, already ticked off. "Is that all you wanted? To come down here and make me look like a fool?"

Eli shakes his head calmly. "Nope. But you coming here and inquiring at the desk every day doesn't do nothin'. Ryan's fine and will be going home soon. The only complaint she has is the man that walked out of her life, who she misses terribly."

Surprise flashes in Leo's eyes. "Is this some kind of joke? Are you trying to mock me?"

"No. I'm not kidding, Leo. Ryan misses you. I don't know what kind of screwy mess she got herself into with you, but our family has thick skulls. Sometimes we have to take the hard way around just because the other way is too easy. She might have had less than honorable intentions to start out... but I know my sister, and I can tell when she's telling the truth. And right now - she misses you. She fell for you whether you want to see it or not."

Leo grits his teeth, his pulse having quickened. His eyes blaze, angered by Eli's intrusion on his personal life, and fighting to figure out what was really true. "Is that all?"

"No. Where's Roth?"

"Out," Leo scoffs. "They caught him, had him in jail for two days, then all of a sudden, no one could prove anything, so they let him go. I heard he was back at the races and nobody will stand up to him anymore. He's a bigger tough guy than he was before."

"Hmm..." Eli nods. "Alright. Thanks. See you around."

Leo is left standing alone again, staring after Eli. Sighing, he heads back for the door, ignoring the nurse who was about to tell him that Ryan would be going home soon.

Eli comes back into Ryan's room, a smile on his face. "I think they model hospitals after labyrinths." He takes his seat again and sighs. "Nice day out there though."

Quiet for a moment, he cocks his head at his sister. "By the way... don't give up on Leo yet. Sometimes guys just take a little longer than you women to figure things out."


Axel grins and takes the seat Misty offered near the desk. Listening, he nods a little. "Yeah, Carson said he didn't know a whole lot about this particular research, but he was guessing I'd be a guinea pig."

Paying closer attention to what Misty was saying, another little grin surfaces. "I figure the end result can't be any worse than what I got now. See, I would have gone to a hospital or something, but I can't afford it, and my insurance won't cover it. So I'm a mechanic with a lame hand - not a great combination." He shrugs. "Carson thought I might get away with something I could afford, if I'd be willing to be a test subject and... I guess I am."

Bringing his hand up to the desk so Misty could see, he turns it a little. "I got some mobility, but it's all numb, so I wind up dropping everything I pick up and the like. This is where it started." He points to the scar on the top of his hand, and the matching one on his palm. "I had a knife straight through there at one time. I was in prison at the time and they didn't have the greatest medical facility. Healed up alright, but they said there was nerve damage. I started experiencing some pain, and eventually I saw a specialist. They said they could do surgery, but if anything went wrong, I could lose the use of my hand. At that point, it wasn't worth the risk so... I put it off."

Sighing, Axel shakes his head. "Not that long ago, the pain got worse. It would just shoot through my whole hand. The only thing that helped was to massage the area until it calmed down again." He figured he needn't say that Jess was the one with that talent.

"I still put off doing anything 'cause I could still use it most of the time. But then it started getting numb after the pain. Then recently it just didn't go away. Figured if the risk was losing the use of my hand then... I didn't have anything to lose anymore."

He looks at Misty, trying not to be hopeful. "I'm game for whatever you want to try. I know it's been long enough that there's probably a lot of scarring in the way and it might not even be doable this late in the game."


"Da!" Kalyee squeals and throws her hands up, food flying.

Cindy turns from the sink and smirks at her daughter, but she can't help a laugh. "If 'Da' were here, I'd have him clean you up instead of me." Shaking her head she takes a wet cloth to go and clean off Kaylee and the highchair.

Kaylee gurgles and shakes her head. "Ja!"

"No, Jason's not here either, hon. It's just you and me."

"Brmm da!"

Cindy grins. "If you say so. How about we clean this place up so Daddy doesn't have a heart attack when he gets back, hmm? But I think that means the playpen for you because I can't keep up with your shenanigans and clean at the same time."

Kaylee giggles and smiles big as if she were a sheepish angel.