Tears

Jim only had enough energy to move his head away from Angel's touch, but not to fight any more. Both eyes were swelling up fast, making it hard to see, let alone react to anything. 

Mick wiped his lip again and shook his head at Angel. "No... it wasn't normal." He glanced around at the other men. "How 'bout we talk about it in your office before the audience grows." 

Too late. Becky had caught wind of the fight and came running. Seeing Jim, she was immediately at his side, the tears glistening in her eyes. It only took a moment for her gaze to rise to Mick though and she stood again. "What do you think you're doing?!" She shouted. "How could you do this to him?!" Taking a step closer to Mick, she aimed her fists at his chest, but Sparky was quick to intervene. 

"Hey, hey, settle down. Jim's fine."

"He is not fine! Look at him!" 

By now, Jim was trying to get to his feet, but was unable to until Eric gave him a hand, and even then he wobbled unsteadily while keeping his arms wrapped around his ribs and stomach. 

Sparky knew Jim was in pretty poor shape, but panicking wasn't going to do anything to help. "You need to calm down," he ordered Becky sternly. "If you can do that, then you can come to Angel's office with us. Otherwise, you're welcome to go to the house and wait." 

A tear rolled down Becky's face but she backed off and went to Jim again, helping him walk with Eric's aid as well. 

Mick's eyes were all but proud as his brother headed towards the office first. He looked to Angel with pain in his gaze. He hurt more on the inside than out at this point. "It started with Jim complaining about Rosalyn," he explained quietly as they walked a ways behind Jim. "I told him I didn't agree with how he was handling things with Chad and that he had no right to tell Chad he couldn't be here. We had an argument about who was really in charge here and he just got more and more riled. I finally told him if he really wanted to fight, to go for it. And... he did." He touched his eye tenderly. "I thought after the first few hits, he'd give it up, but he just kept going. I didn't have much of a choice but to pummel him, unless I wanted to be the one beat to a pulp." 

By then, they'd reached the office, so Mick kept quiet again, not wanting to make things worse. All he needed was a couple little bandages on his face, and he knew he'd be sore. Otherwise, he really didn't have much damage, and was just as happy to leave quickly so nothing else got started. 

Jim, on the other hand, was in much worse shape. His face was battered and he was seeing less and less out of his swollen eyes. His ribs screamed with pain, and his shoulder had taken a beating as well, when he'd fallen once. He could barely talk, his jaw was so sore, and thought he was obviously still very angry, all fight was gone, and he couldn't argue with Angel's care. 

Becky finally left to take care of some work she'd left hanging, which left Jim and Angel alone, though there wasn't much he could do but just lie on the bed and wince as she worked on him.


"... I feel terrible but I didn't know what else to do." Mick leaned on the kitchen counter in the house, glad to have found Rosetta alone with BJ outside for a while where he couldn't see his dad's black eye and split lip yet. 

Mick stared into the dish water draining in the sink and shrugged lamely. "He just wouldn't let it rest. It was like he was just waiting for me to throw the first punch. I didn't, but he ended up doing it himself anyway. Maybe I taunted him into doing it, but he just wouldn't walk away. It was like having an all-out brawl was the only way he was gonna stop. I could have just protected myself, but we'd still be out there with him beating on me if I hadn't taken the upper hand." 

He really did feel terrible. He used to fight all the time... but he'd tried to stop. He'd tried to get a hold of his temper and be the bigger man. He'd tried so hard not to be the hothead he used to be. And today, it was as if that was the only thing that would get Jim to stop. 

He sighs and looks at Rosetta sadly. "I tell you what though... all this has really made me stop and think about how I treat Jade." 


Rosalyn had finally emerged from the house, but only to go see Clint and make him tell her the conversation he'd overhead in the barn. About the argument. About how Jim had talked about not letting Rosalyn see Chad, and how Mick had tried defending them. Rosalyn had known...but she'd wanted to know for sure. And when she did, it was the empty bunkhouse she'd fled to. Chad wasn't there, but he had been, and that was all she had right now. 

Curling up on the bed, the tears flowed freely, sobs kept quiet in the pillow. She couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't keep on seeing Chad at the expense of her family. Her father had been hurt badly, and Mick hadn't had an easy time either. And it was all because of her. Because she was too stubborn to let go. 

Only after the tears had been spent did she have the nerve to pull out her phone. 

To: Chad
From: Rosalyn

Im sorry. I cant meet u tonight.
Probably not any night. Im
just causing too much trouble.
I cant take it anymore. I know
u said u wouldnt give up but
maybe u should. Im too tired
to fight anymore. Maybe in
another lifetime we can meet
again. This isnt a fairytale. It
doesnt have a happy ending.


Reese was standing by his desk when Hope entered the office, and he nodded a greeting. By his body language though, it was apparent that he was feeling the stress of the afternoon. 

Hearing what Hope had to say, he lifted his eyebrows in curiosity. Gunner had had lunch with her? That was unusual. He exchanged a quick glance with Susanne, which confirmed she had sensed the same oddity in the situation. 

"What do you mean you don't know what's going on with him? I didn't know anything was going on with him." Reese gave Hope a stern look. "If this has anything even remotely to do with his ghost hunting or suicidal tendencies, you better tell me now."


Alec nodded slowly as he processed Misty's answer. Not all that long ago, he would have called someone like Misty weak for being so generous and compassionate. But Misty was anything but weak. On the contrary, she was one of the strongest people he knew. Could it be that all this time, he'd had things backward? That her character traits were what made her strong? 

He gave her a crooked grin. "Well, from a guy that's been down on his luck, I'm sure Clay appreciated tonight."

After a little wave, he turned to go. "Goodnight, Misty..." It still felt a little strange to go out back to the shed that was now his own personal space. It was cozy, and he was proud that he'd fixed it all up by himself. And...he was glad he was still near enough to spend time with Misty and even Jason. Being alone wasn't all that grand.


Carson lay on his back on the small bed of the bedroom at Mom and Pop's. The ceiling never changed, but it seemed rather difficult to give up the habit of staring at it.

Finally turning on his side, he reached over to the nightstand to turn on the tiny lamp. The soft glow illuminated a worn picture frame and Carson's eyes fell upon the photo that he studied every night. And every night, he felt as though he fell in love with her smile all over again. And every night, that sweet joy was overshadowed by the stabbing pain in his heart.

It was ten minutes before he finally shut the light off. But the darkness wasn't very comforting. There was something else he did every night, and that was consider the papers in his bottom dresser drawer. He knew Misty and Jason were getting more serious about each other every day. He knew she was finding happiness with another man. And he new she was falling in love. As much as it hurt, he wondered if signing those papers and letting her go would be the better choice. But every time he got pen in hand, he couldn't bring himself to sign his name. There had to be some way to win Misty back. There just had to be.

Rolling onto his stomach, Carson buried his face in the pillow with the futile hope that it might subdue the silent tears.