Mysterious power

Looking at Ryan as she heads for the door, questions begin to invade Alec's mind. What was he doing? What was he thinking? This was nuts. He didn't care about anybody but himself. He was to only look out for number one. His relationships with women - they were all the same and all based on one thing. Ryan would quicker turn him over to an enemy than anybody with those blazing eyes. So she'd brought him food, so what? So she'd given him gifts, so what? Nobody could be trusted - nobody. Feelings for someone like this - they simply weren't real.

Who was he kidding?

Alec hesitates to follow her out the door. She had done something to him. She had unlocked a door deep down in his soul that had been bolted shut and buried years ago, never to be opened again. Yet no matter how rusty the lock or how corroded the hinges... somehow, she had opened it. It was a far cry from love - that door hadn't seen the light of day for over half his life. But this one... its own opening proved more than physical attraction. Its opening spoke more than physical desires. Oh, they were there, but the light that was shining through this now-open door sent a feeling through him that was hard to recognize, it had been so long. But he knew that if someone were to come to harm Ryan, he would defend her. He cared. Her gifts had been more than food - more than a gold chain. And they had evoked the feelings that now wouldn't easily go away.

Finally shaking his head, Alec grabs his denim jacket and throws it on, following Ryan out. Down the hall and up the stairs, Alec had been this way plenty of times before - usually at night when hardly anyone was here so he wouldn't be accused of harassing or trying to escape.

Walking with Ryan, he received strange looks as they passed Elite officers. He was a prisoner, let free for an hour - it was strange to them too. But the look he gave back to them was a cold, icy gaze that made them look away first.

Out the door, up the elevator and finally into the outdoors. Just standing in the parking lot, Alec closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of the air he'd been lacking for so long now. Opening his eyes again, he squints, the sunlight almost too much. But he couldn't deny it felt good. Even the iciest of hearts needed the sunshine once in a while.

Continuing to walk behind Ryan, be recognizes her car from the night she'd picked him up. So long ago. He'd been so stupid. He should have headed straight out of town that night instead of trying to track her down. Things would be so different now. He thinks wryly that yes, he might be dead.

Slipping into the passenger side, Alec waits for Ryan, looking over at her with too many things running through his eyes to decipher. "So how did you do it, Ry? How did you convince the big boss to let me out? I feel like some ol' Andy Griffith show where he let the prisoners out for Christmas as long as they promised to come back. But that doesn't happen in the real world. Or do you have some mysterious power you're wielding on all of us?"


Trent falls quiet as he thinks, exchanging a quick glance with Ryder. "I... don't know. I guess we'll have to play it by ear."

He let his eyes roam back to Thirteen, the pain he felt greater than he had in a long time. He knew he was handling this situation well today, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. And if he had his druthers, he'd leave now and go hibernate in a corner for a while like he normally did. But this time he didn't have a choice but to face all of this through to the end.

"We still live quite a ways apart," he reminds her. "But... visits can always happen."

Ryder slips his hand from Thirteens in order to move his arm and wrap it around her shoulders. It was obvious that Trent didn't want to make any promises right now, and Ryder knew that logical or not, it might still be a bit of a disappointment.