CD

The corner of Quinn's mouth twitches as he sees the glint in Anastasia's eye again. "You'd take me in your car... and drive all the way to the lake?" He'd seen roadsigns - he knew it was at least a half hour drive. Anastasia was willing to take him alone in her car all the way out there and back again? "I don't know..." He cocks his head. "I might want to check your trunk for dead bodies first."

Why he wanted to say yes, he wasn't sure. I could be a creep and she was trusting him, but what about her? She could be someone he should be careful with too. But... for some reason he didn't think so. There was something different about her... the peace he'd felt wasn't his imagination. He was good at first impressions and he'd had more than that, spending almost the entire evening with her. And besides, he still didn't want to go back to the hotel.

Why not? He really couldn't think of a reason.

"Okay." Sliding from the booth, Quinn stands up and tosses his paper cup into the trash can. "As long as I can grab a CD from my car."


Even though Jason was so far away, somewhere he knew that Katie was close. With his head in his lap, he shakes, his muscles cramping and aching but he couldn't relax.

"Katie..." he mumbles, forcing the words out. "Katie..."

The images flash through his mind of Alex... the room... the torment. The emotions were the same as when he was that lost little boy, taken and beaten and starved. Everything was frightening. He was so alone. He hurt all over. He just wanted his mom again. Was she even out there? Was everything a dream? Was anyone looking for him? The grimy window was his only light... only hope... for for a little boy, the hope was dwindling. For a little boy, he wished for death, rather than the horror of hearing the lock turn in the door. Rather than trying to find scraps in the kitchen to eat and hearing Alex come home. Rather than being dragged and slapped and bashed and thrown into the room again.

Jason's heart races as he shakes, the sweat still pouring down. His fingers find her hand and their scars meet, the emotions surging from him to her along with all the pain and suffering he was experiencing all over again. It felt like a deep pit he could never escape. But Katie's voice and her gentle hand running through his hair was his lifeline.

To Jason, it felt like a lifetime had passed. In reality, it had been a full half hour. But finally his body begins to relax, his eyes slowly opening. The vice grip on Katie's hand is gradually released. Soaked with sweat and trembling, Jason was totally spent, but reality slowly, slowly comes back to him. He was in the safe house... where Destiny was... and Katie was here too...

"Katie?" His voice was raspy and whispered. His head was still in her lap and he remembers now that he'd called her to come... and she had. For him. Again.

Still shaking, tears sting his eyes and he buries his head further into her lap, a new emotion rising within him and one that made him weak and vulnerable, like the child he'd just relived. He hated it... hated it with a passion.

His fingers find hers again, but this time not out of desperation, but out of sorrow and a need for comfort. His energy was completely spent and his body weak. Drawing in a ragged breath, he tries to stop the tears that he wasn't even sure how they started. "Don't go," he begs quietly.