Ten Seconds

Gunner only made eye contact with Hope when she leaned down to his level. Locking his gaze with hers, he listened, though his expression didn't change.

"No." His eyes narrowed with his stubborn response. Standing so abruptly that he almost tripped over a pile of papers, he put more space between him and Hope. "I'm never going back to that place." His tone had grown angry. "And if you or anybody else try to make me, I'll go walk off a bridge instead, and we can just be done with this whole thing." 

There was fear in his eyes now. Fear of going back to the place of forced counseling, psychiatric evaluations, medications and locked doors. Perhaps there had been some good in it - he'd been forced to face his problems and give up the notion of suicide, while also getting to know Bree. But he never wanted to go back.

Pacing like a caged animal in front of the living room window, Gunner scuffed his bare feet on the carpet. He folded his arms tight around himself and wouldn't look back at Hope again. "What is so wrong with just letting me be? Why can't I just...just..." He gestured at the mess on the floor, but found it difficult to say what he wanted. "Just do what I'm doing?"

He spotted a particular piece of paper on the floor and snatched it up. "See? A loose end. But nobody lets me wrap them all up." His voice went quiet again. "Nobody." He found a pushpin on the coffee table and pinned the paper to the wall, next to a couple others that he'd already put up. Quiet abruptly, his body language shifted, putting him in his own little world again, as if Hope wasn't even there. "If I could just find the missing piece," he whispered, while staring at the page. "If I could just...find it..."

Jared grinned as he looked at Grace out of the corner of his eye. Sliding his hand towards her, he took her hand, running his thumb through her palm. "Is this what you call working hard?" he teased softly.

He leaned his head against hers and just soaked up the sunshine and the gentle breeze. Closing his eyes, he sighed deeply. Was this what peace felt like?

"You wouldn't want to come over for dinner tomorrow night, would you?"

"Hey, KT!" Kyle set down his paint brush and wiped his hand on his jeans. Hearing Katie's question, his brow furrowed a little. Katie didn't usually start out conversations like this. "I always got at least ten seconds for you," he teased. He wandered in the direction of the house's back door, but kept his steps slow. He knew Alice was inside doing some cleaning, but he wanted to hear what Katie had to say first, before involving Alice. 

"So what's up?"