Messed up

Kip continues to search Karla's eyes, so sorry, but so confused as well. Why was she this hurt? Why was she angry? He wants to say more, but apparently he'd already caused enough damage.

Letting his eyes drop, he moves out of the way so Karla can go inside. Trudging to the porch steps, he flops down to lean his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. What had he done wrong? He wasn't even sure, yet he still felt guilty. What was he supposed to do now?

"...Kip?"

His head shoots up as he feels Twila's hand on his shoulder. "Huh?"

She chuckles, not having meant to startle him. "We got lemonade - figured you woulda come in by now."

"Oh."

Twila cocks her head at his dismal tone, and eases down next to him. She'd seen Karla walk through to get some lemonade just a few minutes ago and had noticed her offish demeanor, even if she hadn't said anything. Was this related? "Something wrong?"

"I dunno. Yeah... maybe." Kip shrugs. "Guess I messed up... again."

"What happened?"

Kip really didn't want to explain, but he did need help figuring this out, and Twila was good at that sort of thing. "Whitney came by." He looks at her pleadingly. "Don't tell Erik."

Twila purses her lips, knowing full well the trouble he'd gotten into before. But there was such desperation in his eyes that she finally relents. "Okay. But what happened?"

"Well, she... she kissed me and... I kissed her back."

"I see. And?"

"And Karla saw it."

"Ah." Now Twila was starting to understand. "Was she... upset?"

"I guess so. I mean... I'm not sure why."

Seeing he was utterly clueless, Twila takes it slow. "Well... are you two more than friends?"

"I don't know. I mean... I kinda maybe kissed her the other day." He gives Twila a sidelong glance. "It wasn't anything big though. We were just celebrating and.. and... and it just sorta happened."

"Aw, Kip." Twila looks at him with sympathy, even though she was gently chiding. "And you didn't really mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"Your affection?"

Kip could feel the heat in his face again. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. "Well, I... I... I did... I think?" He swallows hard. "I like her and... we're close and..." He stops and looks at Twila's waiting expression. "Yeah... yeah, I guess I meant it. It would take a blind man not to see Karla's special. I... I do like her, ya know?"

"Mm-hmm." Twila wasn't going to say that everybody could see that those two had gotten close. They all knew it was only a matter of time before they actually admitted they were a couple. "And you think that little kiss you gave meant nothing to her?"

"Well...well, I don't know. It's not like we talked about it."

Twila bites her lip and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Kip... when you kiss a girl, it means something to her. Trust me on that one. You like each other and even if was just a little kiss, you were still giving her that special attention that's meant just for her." She pauses. "Unless you don't mean it anymore."

"No, no, I do... I... I still like her."

"And you kissed Whitney today."

Now Kip was starting to get it. "So... I prolly really hurt Karla's feelings, huh?"

"Yeah, probably. Put yourself in her shoes. You're her hero, Kip. She thought she was gonna be your special one. And now she just witnessed that it wasn't true."

"But it was. My feelings haven't changed."

"And so you kissed Whitney because..."

"I... didn't tell her no." Kip hangs his head again. "I did mess up, huh?"

"Yeah, I think ya did." Twila gives him a little squeeze. "Quit letting Whitney control you. You know she only wants you around because she can tell you what to do. But Karla... she really cares about you... for the right reasons. Whether you two start having a dating relationship or not, you've been leading up to it, so on a certain level, it feels like you lied."

Kip is quiet for several moments. "What do I do?"

"That's up to you. Just ask yourself what you really want. Then stick to it."

Left alone for a while, Kip sits and thinks, glad that everyone else was inside right now. Finally though, he lets out a long sigh. Dating relationship in the future or not, he had to at least make this right.

Getting up, he wanders into the house and slips down to the kitchen instead of to the sun room where everyone else had congregated. Retrieving what he wanted from the freezer, he glances in on the group, noting that Karla wasn't with them, so he heads upstairs to her room. Finding the door shut, he figures this was where she was.

Knocking softly, he pauses a moment. "Karla?" He swallows hard. "I, um... I got some ice cream here and..." He fiddles with the cold Ben & Jerry's in his hand. "It's got chocolate and some peanut butter and... it's too much for me to eat. Well... not really, but I don't wanna make myself sick and if nobody shares it with me, then I'll end up just downing the whole thing."

Kip waits, biting his lip. "And it's getting really cold... and freezing my fingers. And that would be bad 'cause if I lost any of my fingers it would be really hard to play my bass after that."

Waiting a few more moments, he speaks again, a little softer. "I got two spoons... if... if you wanna share..."


It was Scott's second encounter with Justin the next day. He found himself not minding the new company. Justin seemed to be non-intrusive, never seeming to invade Scott's private space nor talk about things unless Scott wanted to. It felt good to have someone at least seeming to not be trying to fix him or be worried about him. If Justin was simply doing his job, he was very good at it, but Scott sensed it was more than that. Justin had some deep layers himself, and to Scott, he was genuine. He may have been called in for this job, but his attitude and outlook was real. And that was why Scott didn't mind spending his time with him instead of Dr. Hawks.

Crack! The baseball goes flying across the clearing, sailing into the trees on the far end. Scott lets the baseball bat hang as he watches to see where the ball ends up.

"Wooee." Justin grins and picks up another ball out of his bucket. "You play baseball in college or something?"

Scott gives a little scoff and repositions himself. "You kidding me? I've been the nerd ever since elementary school. I couldn't have made the team if I'd been paid to."

Strike. The bat cuts through the air, the ball landing back behind Scott.

Justin rolls another ball in his hand before lining himself up with Scott again. "You got some aim though."

Crack! Another ball flies. Scott shrugs. "Two out of three. I guess it's alright."

"If you didn't learn in school, where'd you learn to aim?"

"My job." Scott concentrates on the next incoming ball as their voices remain at a loud tone so they could hear each other.

"I thought you were a tech guy?"

"I was. They put me through the basics though. I learned to hit targets." Another ball is shot into oblivion. Scott's heartrate has picked up and he's starting to breathe more heavily. Just this little exercise was hard after not having been active for so long. "Wasn't enough though," he mutters.

Justin had heard him, but asks anyway. "What's that?"

"I said it wasn't enough," Scott answers more clearly. "I wouldn't be here if I'd had more training."

Justin throws another ball. "And how's that? You woulda fought off the orderlies?"

Scott can't help a little smirk at the joke before he gets another strike. "No, I woulda never gotten caught by the Agency."

"The Agency, huh?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know," Scott counters. "You wouldn't be here if you hadn't been given my files."

A smile spreads on Justin's face and he lets another ball fly. "You said yesterday not to beat around the bush. I should have remembered."

Scott nods with satisfaction. "Thank you." Crack!

"Well... I never knew anybody who could fight with a bomb," Justin comments, tracing a line in the ground with his toe before taking a pitching stance again.

"I coulda run faster."

"To where?"

Scott's eyes narrow as he focuses on the next ball. There had been no way out of that house. And even if he'd been faster, he might not have lost his eye, but he still would have been picked up by the Agency on the other side of the tunnel. "I coulda been smarter and gotten the doors unlocked so I could get out."

Justin had done his homework. "It would have taken you too long to go back to the computer and hack back into the system."

"So if I'd been faster - "

"You would have gotten blown up in the office instead of escaping."

"I coulda been wiser and never gone in there in the first place."

"Which friend would you have chosen to take your place?" Justin aims he final ball too far to the right.

Scott's bat slices the air, the ball way too far out of his range to even nick. He looks questioningly at Justin, who had, up until now, thrown perfect pitches.

Justin takes off his glove and picks up his bucket. The strike had been entirely because of his bad pitch."Sometimes... it just isn't our fault." He gestures to the treeline. "Lets go find us some baseballs."

Scott rests his bat on the ground, watching Justin walk away for a moment. "Sometimes it just isn't our fault." There had been nothing he could do about missing that ball. What about the bomb? Sighing, he leaves the bat where it is, and heads after Justin, tired, but willing to try and collect the balls.