Deserves better

Jason's hand that had been rubbing Katie's arm, comes to an abrupt halt, though he doesn't move. His eyes go to the television instead of Katie's face and his jaw muscles tighten. Did he have to report everything to everyone now? First Rick, now Katie... did they think he wasn't smart enough to make a change if something happened? Did they both think he was irresponsible enough to sit back and die, should he have an attack or what?

"Yeah." He sighs. "Well, whatever. It's up to you. I'm tired of choosing what everybody else wouldn't."

He didn't mean to be so grouchy, he was just... tired of this whole thing.

Wriggling her shoulder, he prompts her to sit up so he could get off the couch. "I'm gonna go take something for this headache. I'll be back."


Alec's hospital room remained quiet, except for the machines and an occasional doctor or nurse checking on him. The hours dragged on with no changes. But despite the time seeming to stand still, it did indeed move on, and the sun did indeed rise the next morning. The day moved on, despite heavy hearts, until once more, the sun began to sink towards the horizon...

Alec's eyes crack open. Dim light seeps through to his sight and he has no idea where he is. His body hurt... a lot. He felt sick to his stomach, a headache pounded in his skull and there was a numbing pain all over. A quiet, rhythmic beep hits his ears first, before he begins to pick up other sounds - distant conversations, footsteps and calls for doctors over an intercom. A hospital... he was in a hospital. But why?

Trying to shift and sit up a little more, his arms are met with resistance. Managing to get his eyes open a little wider, he sees that both of his wrists are handcuffed to the bed rails. And then it all comes back to him. Everything. The Agency, the running... the shootout. The shootout... he shouldn't be here now. He should be dead. They'd saved him.

"No!" Wrenching both his arms, he tries to break free from the cuffs, which of course is futile. Swinging his gaze to the side, he only now realizes he's not alone. Seeing Ryan, time pauses long enough for ire to flash in his eyes. A string of angry profanity is hurled in her direction, sparing no name or curse. "Get out of here!" Pulling against the restraints again only serves to send severe burning pain through his chest and shoulder.

As his blood pressure spikes, one of the machines screams its warning and without time to even react, a doctor and several nurses are in the room. "Calm down," they urge, trying to hold Alec still as his wound begins to bleed. "Easy, easy."

"Let go of me!" Alec thrashes against them as more curses are flung in every direction. "I'm supposed to be dead!" His eyes swing about the room wildly until they land on Ryan again. Too weak to fight off the others anymore, he stops thrashing to catch his breath. Glazed and dim, his eyes narrow. "I hate you," he hisses.


"Naw, she's up at the hospital with Alec." Eli takes a small sip of beer and leans back in the couch, watching as a commercial played in between the football game on television.

Tal quirks an eyebrow from where he sat in the easy chair. His thumb picks at a corner of his beer bottle label. "Cares a lot about him, huh?"

Eli shrugs. "Yeah...." He sighs. "Yeah, she fell pretty hard for him I guess. I think it's over now though. After all the things that happened..." He shakes his head. "She cares enough to not want him to die alone or to be there if he wakes up, but I'll be glad when they don't see each other anymore."

"That bad?"

Eli scoffs. "If cheating with another woman, killing people and running off to one of the most dangerous criminal organizations counts as bad, then yeah."

Both of Tal's eyebrows rise this time. "Sheesh. He went all out, didn't he?"

"You could put it that way."

"A woman like Ryan deserves better than that." Tal nods decidedly before taking a swig of beer. "I'm surprised she let herself get taken for a ride like that."

"Me too. But..." Eli thinks for a moment, the football game going ignored for now. "I don't know... I guess I didn't think he was that bad either. He was a crook to begin with, but I guess even I thought he'd changed. I have to admit, it seemed he was really turning his life around. I always had my reservations about him, but lately he was starting to grow on even me."

"Hmm." Tal lets his eyes travel to the ball game for a few minutes. "She had another boyfriend before though, didn't she? Wasn't it Leo Barnsworth?"

Eli nods. "Yeah. They dated for a while. He's got himself another girl now though - pretty steady as far as I can see. Seems happy. I always thought he'd be good for Ryan, but the girl he's got now is awfully sweet and they've got more similar interests I think. Why?"

Tal shrugs. "No reason. Just sucks when you get a messy breakup and then don't have someone to fall back on."

"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?"

Tal laughs and shakes his head. "Brothers are different."

Eli feigns annoyance. "Oh? And how so?"

"I don't know, they're just... brothers?" Tal laughs again. "It's different and you know it. I'm just saying it sucks when a woman doesn't have a... a man..." He gestures to Eli before a comment can be thrown back at him. "Not a brother... to... you know... just... be there." He halts, ponders, then rolls his eyes. "I think I stopped making sense somewhere in there."

"Yeah, you better just finish that beer so I can give you a second one," Eli teases.

Both wind up laughing and the topic is dropped as their attention goes back to the football game. It was a simple diversion from the reality of life, if only for a little while.


"I'm sorry I didn't set up this meeting sooner," Reese apologizes. "We've had some... stress around here lately." He sighs a little, tired, but trying to make it through a few more cases before he could relax. The whole thing with Alec had been the worst. If he could get someone out to the R/M ranch, that would at least be one thing he could quit worrying about.

"I've looked over a list of files and I think you're the best candidate for the security job at the R/M ranch and Brown told me you'd like to accept." He looks across his desk at Stacy, cocking his head. "The ranch has ups and downs like any place. Sometimes it's full of people and activities and there are other times that they barely have a visitor or client for weeks. Sometimes it's as quiet as a mouse and sometimes it's busy and obnoxious."

He leans back and fiddles with a pen. "I see you have a daughter. I imagine there will be a few kids her age in and out of there - some with problems, some without, but most only there for a short while at a time. A lot of the time, she'll probably wind up the only kid her age. There's the potential for danger as well."

Reese studies Stacy, curious, serious and almost challenging but not quite. "So...tell me what makes you want this job so much that you'd put your daughter in that position." He wasn't implying anything about her role as a mother - it was a simple question to which he wanted the answer.