Confused?

Chance grins and heads to the kitchen with Destiny, scouring the cupboards to find a couple mugs. It doesn't take long to have the hot tea ready, and the kitchen table seems the best place to sit for a while. Conversation is pretty quiet, though Chance does talk a bit, filling in the awkward gaps.

"I got used to drinking tea over in England. It's not the same, of course, but the tea over here serves its purpose alright." He chuckles. "My dad was a coffee man though. Never did take to the tea, so I was always the one to make sure we had some."

Taking another sip, he straightens, thinking he hears something, but he realizes it's just the wind. "And alas..." He finishes his tea. "The last drop signals the end of the day." Sighing deeply, he gets up from the table and puts the mug in the sink before stretching and yawning. "I got work to do for a while yet and gotta keep an eye on things 'til I know the perimeter is quiet so... I shall bid thee goodnight."

Giving a little bow, he demonstrates a formal wave before backing from the kitchen and disappearing into the corner of the living room once again. "Holler if you need anything in the night," he calls over his shoulder. He didn't think anything would happen. It would take a day or two for the Agency to find out where they were, and even then, they'd be leery about invading.

He was right. The night was very quiet and Chance was woken up from his light sleep only once by a car honking down the street. Rising early, he takes advantage of the quiet to take a quick shower, then settle down in the corner of the living room again to sip his morning tea and see if he had any TJY messages while keeping an eye on the cameras. He would have checked on Destiny, but he'd heard her up as well, so he let her be.


Kyle scrunches his nose and chuckles as Alice kisses it after he'd returned her kiss to the lips. "I love you too... but if you think this adventure is over, I got news for you."

Grinning, he brushes her cheek with his hand before finally drawing away and getting out of her jeep. "I'll call ya in the morning. Goodnight, Alice." Closing the door, he backs away and waves, blowing her a quick kiss before heading to the house. Before he reaches the porch though, Kip comes barreling outside, having been looking for him, and now taking advantage of the moment. A friendly wrestling match ensues as both release whatever was left of their energy, and Kyle winds up staggering onto the porch with Kip clinging to his back. Turning around, he gives one last wave to Alice before both disappear into the house.

The night is all too short. Everybody was so exhausted that the morning seems to come earlier than normal, even though most actually sleep late. Gram is sure to make everyone breakfast though, giving her two cents worth on how the group could spend their day if they wanted to take a look around town. Kyle had already mentioned he'd be gone part of the day and no one minded - the newcomers were enthusiastic about having an exploring adventure to get their bearings before they had to buckle down and get some work done anyway.

After a quick call to Alice, Kyle begged a ride off Erik to Phil's where he found his pickup still in fine shape. Glad to be back behind his own wheel again, he stops for some gas then heads for Alice's to pick her up.

Waiting for her to get into the truck, he grins and leans over to give her a kiss. "Mmm... I missed you this morning. I got up and looked around and my shadow had left." His eyes twinkle with enthusiasm for seeing her today. It really had been odd to get up and eat breakfast without her there with the rest of the gang, and Kyle had had to restrain himself from calling her as soon as he'd woken up.

Pulling back out into the street, Kyle first heads into town, making a quick stop at the Sandwich Basket for some lunch to go. Then he aims out of town. Conversation resumes as normal, just like he and Alice had been doing every day since they'd left Nevada. It was a strange sensation, being just the two of them, knowing that at the end of the day, they'd say goodbye again and go their separate ways until the next day. It was back to "normal" everyday life, but it didn't feel so normal.

Finally they reach the lake, but Kyle doesn't go to the normal beach where everyone usually went for picnics and fun. Instead, he turned off a side road and travels quite a ways, clear around the other side, then off into a little nook that few people even knew about. It took a while to get there and there was a small clearing to park, but no parking lot. It looked a good place for someone to go camping for a weekend, but it was obvious that few people came. Surrounded by trees, there was a little dock down by the water, old with several holes, making it seem a bit more precarious than it really was.

Kyle parks the truck and just sits for a quiet moment before turning to smile at Alice. "Come on." Getting out, he leaves the lunch for now, coming around to open her door and take her hand. Walking down towards the water, he's quieter than normal, keeping Alice's hand nestled securely in his own.

"You know..." He takes a deep breath of the calm warm breeze and looks out over the lake. "There's a quiet spot back around the other side on the beach... up in the rocks where I used to go and think. I only shared it with a couple other people. It was kinda my hideaway... a spot no one else knew about so I could go and sit for hours and be alone."

Kyle remembered he'd taken Misty there before. They'd sat... shared... learned to care for each other. It had been a special place. But this... this place was different.

Having paused, Kyle clears his throat, still looking out at the water. "This place here holds something different for me though. I've... I've never brought anyone here, not even Jen or Phil." It was true. He'd shared his rock hideaway with a trusted few, but this little cove was truly a secret. "I... I know I've told you that my dad drown when I was a kid. You might have figured out the rest but... I don't know if I ever told you I was there when it happened. I was... fifteen I think. I don't remember whole lot about that year. I, um.. blamed myself for not being able to save him. I was haunted by nightmares for months."

Even now, it was a little hard to talk about. "But there was one place that I would go and hide and just think and... sometimes shout at God and... and sometimes cry where no one could see me." He turns to look at Alice. There was sadness in his eyes, but also a strong life that had overcome some pretty high hurdles. "I used to disappear for hours up here. Mom used to worry I'd gone off and done something stupid because I withdrew so much. But this place... this little spot... I always had this little notion that God put it here, knowing I'd need it."

Knowing that Alice was probably totally confused as to why on earth he was sharing all this with her, he smiles a little and pulls her down closer to the dock, stepping onto it carefully and leaning against one of the posts. He turns his back to the water to look Alice straight in the face. "I... brought you here because this is a part of me that nobody else owns." He takes her other hand, giving them both a little squeeze. "And... there are other places... other things that I want to start sharing with you because I want you to know the real me. I want you to know where I come from and... and what makes me who I am. People don't always understand me or why I do the things I do. But I want you to know. So... today... welcome to a little piece of Kyle."

He searches Alice's eyes, a little smile forming. "I don't know where we're headed after this... But as long as we're here in this area... there are places I want to take you. Places that I want to share with you. Some might be kind of silly, and some are more important like having you meet more of my family."

He lifts one of her hands to kiss it softly. "Call me crazy, but I want you to know all of me... if you want to, that is." A laugh slips out. "It might be kinda scary."


"Well, Scott... good to see you up and about."

Scott looks up from the bench at Justin without much humor. "I didn't feel like getting manhandled today."

Justin grins. "I didn't feel like doing the manhandling." He nods to the picnic table nearby in the grassy lot. "Come on."

Scott grudgingly stands and follows him. "What today? Tennis?"

Justin chuckles. "No. Just a little memory game."

Memory game? Scott sits down hesitantly. "I don't know if I like the sounds of that."

"You probably don't." Justin sits down too and produces a deck of cards. But they weren't normal cards. He'd spent half the night modifying this deck from files Alec had shared with him. "Have anything for breakfast?"

"Yeah. Kind of."

"Kind of?" Justin starts to lay out the cards face-down on the table, glad that there was no wind today.

"Last night's supper all came up again so I didn't exactly feel like eating this morning."

"Why do you think you got sick?"

"I dunno. Stress." Scott slouches. "Being here."

"Aw now... you know better than to blame stress. Stress is what you make it, Scott."

"You're saying that being here is a piece of cake?"

Justin sighs and looks up at him. "No. I'm saying that stress is your own state of mind."

Scott frowns. "I don't get what you're aiming at."

Justin pauses laying out the cards. "You just blamed stress on the fact that you can't keep your food down. All I'm saying is that you're only under as much stress as you allow yourself to be."

"Oh, like playing these stupid games help."

"The situation has nothing to do with it," Justin insists. "Stress is not a person's circumstances - it's how the person reacts to them. I can walk into a barroom brawl and either get upset or let it go. A 'stressful situation' only means that people involved aren't handling things well enough."

Scott's eyes narrow. "Think I'm not handling things well enough?"

"Did I say that?" Justin shakes his head and raises his hands. "I'm just carrying on a casual conversation, Scott. I'm not blaming you for anything. Did you know that someone can lower their blood pressure just by taking some slow deep breaths and calming down? If the rest of the world would just realize that stress is completely self-inflicted, there would be fewer heart attacks, fewer ulcers and fewer temper tantrums resulting in physical abuse." He looks back at the cards and continues to spread them out. "People can blame others and circumstances all they want for stress, but in the end, its up to each individual to control how they handle it."

Scott sits back a little, unable to help but wonder if many he was doing more harm to himself than anything else.

Justin finishes with the cards and rests his elbows on the table, folding his hands. "Okay, Scott. You know how a memory game works."

"Yeah. Find matches. You really expect me to play this kiddie game?"

"I expect you to make that choice yourself." Justin looks him in the eye. "I'm not going to trick you, Scott. These aren't ordinary playing cards. Each one has a photograph of a face on it... faces you will recognize and that will probably trigger an assimilation response."

Scott's face pales and he can barely find his voice. "What?"

"You need to learn to control your brain's reflexes. I'm not here just to occupy your time during the days with soccer games and paintball. Time is not your friend, Scott. And each day that passes that you don't work on controlling the information inside your brain, it's one more day closer to a total breakdown and I don't want to see that happen to you." Justin gestures to the cards. "This is a mental exercise and I'm here to make sure that nothing bad is going to happen when you see the faces on the other side of these cards. It's safe. But it's up to you. I can't turn the cards over for you. You have to want to do it."

Scott's heart thumps in his chest and he stares at the overturned cards. No. No he couldn't. He wasn't ready. He was scared of what might happen. What if he was thrown into shock again? What if it was too much? He shakes his head. "No... no, I won't do it."

Justin could push. He could ask how Scott thought he'd get over his problems if he wouldn't face them and try. But he didn't. Instead, he says nothing, but collects all the cards he had just laid out and puts them back in the box. "How about we try some target practice?"

"Target... practice?"

Justin draws out a slingshot from his backpack. "Yeah. Ever used one of these."

Scott can't help it that his lips curl up a little bit. "Not since I was about ten and I shot a rock through the living room window."

Justin laughs. "Well we'll shoot in the other direction today." He stands up and heads into the grass. "Come on. Let's see what you got."

A little confused, Scott stands up to follow him. Justin had just dropped that whole other matter... just like that? Why? Was he really letting Scott choose when to see those pictures? Nobody else seemed to want to work with him like that. Was it just a tactic? Whatever the case, playing with a slingshot sounded better than putting himself through further trauma today.

...About an hour later, Justin is headed back down the familiar sidewalk towards the parking lot. Scott had gotten some exercise... he'd been able to concentrate on a sport for a while... so it had been a successful day. He'd look at the cards... eventually. Justin was confident of that. Tomorrow he would bring the deck back and try again. But what he'd told Scott was true... time was of the essence. He knew from Alec and Rick and the files he'd read that eventually, Scott's brain was going to shut down again... unless he could learn to control this thing before then.

Justin stops, glances at his watch then pulls a ziploc bag out of his backpack. Turning a bit aimlessly, one might think he was completely lost, or looking for something he'd missed, the look on his face one of confusion.