Subdued

You're telling me.

Jason shoots a rubber band at the far wall, watching it bounce and fall down behind some filing boxes.

Reese has me doing paperwork too... me... paperwork... we're worse enemies than me and the Agency. I'm dying to get out and go take down a badguy. Unfortunately, someone else has been doing it for us.

He sighs and turns back to his work. It was even more boring here without Trooper.


Pete's eyes widen, his head shooting up as he hears Katie. Had he really said that out loud?

Rising out of his chair, he reaches over the cubicle wall to set his hand on Katie's head. "Shut up, nosy." He pushes her back down so she disappears again. "I can't help it that I think out loud. Quit eavesdropping."

Sitting down again, a sheepish grin appears on his face. Thinking out loud got him in trouble more often than not, but it was a habit he'd had since childhood. Though his hands return to his computer's keyboard, his mind was still preoccupied.

"Her name's Nikki," he finally answers quietly so no one else but Katie would hear him. "Tell anyone and you're dead meat."


Leo starts the car, then pauses as Cassy kisses him on the cheek. A grin emerges. Not that he'd ever tell anyone but... at the time, he'd liked Ryan's rough and tumble nature, but now... Cassy's soft and light personality made him feel so good.

"Alright. Pizza it is, then."

Making it to Mom and Pop's didn't take very long, and soon Leo is sitting across from Cassy in one of the booths. "Hmm... I don't think I remember what you like on your pizza," he muses, scanning the menu.

"Hey, guys." Carson sets down some water for them, playing waiter while he waited for Dani to arrive and while Thirteen was in the kitchen. Aerith was off, and on days when any one of them was off, Carson wound up out here, but he didn't mind. He rather liked getting out from the kitchen sometimes. "What can I get for..." His voice trails off as he looks down at Leo, an eyebrow quirking. He'd seen Leo before, though didn't know him personally. Sometimes he saw him on his own or with Axel. "Who won?"

Leo smirks a little. "That's still under debate." Looking up at Carson, he suddenly sees the resemblance that he had completely overlooked before. But right now at this angle, in this light and after Carson had gotten a haircut... Leo is almost startled.

Seeing the look in his eye, Carson's eyebrow rises even higher.

Leo squints. Nah... he was just imagining things, right? This guy had an Australian accent and was nothing like Alec... right? "Your name wouldn't happen to be Banks, would it?"

Now it's Carson's turn to be surprised. "Yeah, why?" Then it dawns on him. "Alec."

"Relative of yours?"

Carson's eyes narrow. "Unfortunately, he's my brother. He did that to you, ay?"

"I threw the first punch," Leo admits, touching his jaw gingerly.

"He giving you trouble?"

"Not... anymore." Leo shrugs. "Long story. Two guys, a girl... you get the picture."

Carson wasn't sure he did, but if this guy wasn't going to be up in arms about Alec, then Carson wasn't going to stick his nose in. Whatever his brother was getting into, he could handle himself. "Fountain drinks are on the house today," he mentions, pulling out his order pad. He wouldn't tell them that no one else would be offered free drinks. "Know what you guys want to drink and eat?"


Alec carefully pushes open the infirmary door, his whole body aching with every move. He'd never want to admit that Leo had done as good a job on him as he had, but the pain in his face and his headache were getting to be too much.

"Misty?" He looks around, finding her at her desk. Rick wasn't here at the moment, and Alec didn't mind that a bit.

Wandering closer to Misty's desk, he knows she probably hadn't heard about his condition but he tries to just keep it casual. His cuts and bruises would heal on their own, though the cut above his eye seemed to be swelling a bit.

"You, uh... got any painkillers I can have?"

Without realizing it, Alec seemed more subdued today. He had a war going on inside of him, but he was pretty defeated at the moment and it was unusual for him to not be walking tall.