The only person

"Half hour... okay. We could just walk down the block then so it doesn't take so much time. Chinese sounds alright with me if it's okay with you."

Waiting for her, Ty heads out and upstairs again, ambling out into the sunshine. Leaving his bike where it was, he aims down the sidewalk beside Libby. He couldn't help it... his mind kept reverting to the night before. Not only their kiss, but just curling up with Libby on the couch, having his arm around her... it had felt so nice, he couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to it. Problem was, he still didn't know if it had been a fluke or not. He could just ask outright, but that didn't feel right. He could try kissing her again, but if he did that and he was wrong, it could be a disaster.

The restaurant was coming up... he didn't have an awful lot of time to find out anything, and it was going to bug him all day if he didn't come to some conclusion.

Deciding to test the waters, Ty simply slips his hand over to Libby's, catching it mid-swing as they walked. It was warm... soft. Would she mind?


Scott doesn't move when Hope comes in, but he does look up at her when she lays a hand on his shoulder. He didn't feel like going for a walk. He'd rather just stay here. In his misery, he didn't want to get up and do anything. Part of him did want to spend time with Hope. But when she was the one who had instigating putting him in this place... he didn't particularly care for intimacy at the moment.

He didn't, however, feel much different than he had a week ago, and a week ago he would have said yes to a walk, just for the sake of doing something different. He wouldn't think it up on his own, but being asked, he would have said why not. And since he didn't feel much different than he would have... why should he say no now? At the very least, maybe it would get some people off his back about "getting some fresh air," like they were always telling him to do.

It really took Scott several long moments to mull over what should have been an easy decision. One might think he wasn't going to respond at all. But finally he shrugs and gets to his feet. "A short one," he answers lamely.

Putting on his shoes and jacket, he doesn't say much more, his posture still showing a defeated countenance. Down the hall, ascending two flights of stairs, and out the door, under the careful eye of the aid who had a desk near the exit, Scott went with Hope. Once outside, the path was easy to choose. There was a sidewalk that wound around the entire campus if one wanted to take that much time. Benches were along the way, and a short distance away was a nice grassy area with trees. Quiet peaceful if someone were looking to enjoy it.

Scott's walk is slower than normal, his energy gone. Maybe it had been this way for longer than a few weeks. Maybe he had hid it well. He didn't think he had... but perhaps he wanted to be better more than he actually was so he'd fooled even himself. When had the darkness taken over again? He had seen the light... touched it... felt it... all those sessions with Hope - he had taken his life back. Perhaps it was the intensifying Agency data that had dragged him back down. If he had to pinpoint a time when he felt he had started to go downhill again, it would have been when the data had started cropping up constantly. It had started out just occasionally, proving he'd been assimilated, and Carson had forced him to use it. But after that, he'd quit... he didn't want to think about all that his subconscious now knew, so he had tried to close that door. When had he begun to see the dark cloud of depression? When that door had been forced open against his will and now the Agency data ran rampant through his mind, uncontrolled and lethal.

"Being here's not gonna help me, ya know." His tone was bitter as he stared at the sidewalk, still walking slowly. "It doesn't matter... if you couldn't help me, no one here can. It's useless. Fighting against what the Agency did to me is pointless. I wish you'd just give up."


Alec grimaces a little. "I know everything that's in the break room and nothing is appealing. But I'd have to have you go pick something up and waste half of your hour, so how about I come with you?"

"No you're not," Rick intervenes from the counter. "You're not going anywhere yet. You need to lie still."

"Aw, come on," Alec argues. "I've had worse. Besides, I'm going crazy in here."

"Tough. Doctor's orders." Rick wouldn't be pressing the issue if he didn't know Reese didn't want Alec to leave. As it was, Alec's medical condition was the only excuse he had for keeping him here without exposing the truth and risking a fight.

Alec's eyes narrow and he sits up in bed. "I'll go if I dang well please. I feel well enough to walk to a car, sit, and walk back in."

"No." Rick shakes his head. "You're staying." He looks to Ryan and sighs. "Seeing as though you are the only person he will listen to, would you please tell him to stay?"