A very pretty female visitor

A smile automatically came to Lane's face as Angel called him by his nickname. And how long had it even been since he'd heard her voice at all? Receiving her enthusiastic hug though, he stiffened before laughing and prying her away. "Whoa there... I'm an old man now, ya know." Still smiling, he held her at arm's length for a moment and just looked at her. Had he sent her a birthday card about ten years ago? He thought maybe he had. Other than that though...this was the first real contact in a very, very long time. His sister had no idea what his life was like now...or even who he really had become.

Emotions filled his eyes and his expression softened. "It's awfully good to see you," he mentioned quietly. Finally dropping his arms, he cleared his throat. "So, um...I was in the neighborhood and... thought maybe there was a chance I could stick around a few days or something. Spend some time with you... say hi to some of the others..." Question lingered in his gaze. Obviously Angel was glad to see him, but it might be bad timing, or there might not be a free bunk. After all...his arrival was certainly a surprise after not being seen for half his life. So much had changed. No one here even knew where he lived now or anything about him.

Realizing he was still staring at her, he shifted his eyes. A strange awkwardness seemed to settle over him, and he toyed with his hat. "Um... so yeah." He gave her a new smile. "That's why I thought maybe I shoulda called first."


Jared hadn't known what to expect from his little outburst, but a tongue-lashing wasn't it. Staring up at Grace as the rain came down on his face, his expression changed into a glare. Too caught up in his negativity to care about his language, this time his curse was aimed directly at Grace. "If you're so enthusiastic about getting back to the house, then just go! Leave me here. What do I care?! I never needed you or your help in the first place!" 

Maybe he didn't really think she'd actually walk away. Maybe he didn't really think she'd leave him here by himself. But...he was wrong. Swearing again was the only thing he muttered as she walked away, and for a good long few minutes, he did just sit there on the wet sidewalk. By himself. Now soaked to the bone. And miserable. 

His eyes glanced back down the route to the house. One block. That was all. It really wasn't all that far. But Grace was nowhere in sight. She really had left him. A new kind of fear mixed in with his anger. He'd said he hadn't needed her. But in reality, he'd never have made it this far without her. And now she'd called his bluff. 

It was a few more long minutes before he eventually tried standing again. With just one crutch for support, he fell several more times before finally being able to balance and support his own weight. His knee was still bleeding, and still hurt. His hand that had skidded on the pavement hurt. His back ached. Every muscle he could thing of was screaming at him to just stay on the ground and give up. But he made one step. Then one more. Without the support of someone else's arms, it was inevitable that he fall again. And he did. But this time at least, he was close enough to his abandoned crutch that he could crawl to it and now have two to work with. 

He wasn't sure how long it took him to make it back to the house, but when he finally did, he collapsed on the porch steps. Pulling himself up to where he was at least out of the rain now, he leaned back against the railing, utterly exhausted. He was too tired, too hurt and too angry to be proud of himself, though. He needed to get a bandage on his knee, but moving anything just took too much effort for the moment.


Glancing up as the door opened, Keith blinked when he saw the young woman with his cleaning supplies. "Oh, Hun, I'm so sorry." He quickly came over to her and took the bucket to set it aside out of the way. "I got so wrapped up in my work I totally forgot about this." It wasn't hard to see her red eyes, but it seemed perhaps the tears had come earlier than this incident. That didn't mean she hadn't hurt herself just now, though. "Are you alright?"

Back at his desk, Levi was ignoring everything else as he handled yet another phone call. “Yes, of course… Right… Yes, I’ve got it right here…” He glanced around, shifted a stack of papers that fell over to mix with a different stack, then looked under the desk calendar, still not finding the paper he was looking for. “Uh-huh…” Swiveling in his chair, he spotted it on top of an open filing drawer. Rolling towards it, he leaned backward to reach it, only to have one of the chair’s casters snap off. Crashing to the floor, his legs were mangled in the chair, while the rest of him got impossibly tangled in the phone cord.

Keith interrupted his short conversation with Karla to spin around at the loud commotion, eyes wide.

Now almost spread-eagle on the floor – except for one leg that was somehow wrapped around the chair’s armrest – Levi groped for the paper without even skipping a beat on the phone. “Yep, I’ve got all the numbers you emailed us yesterday… Right… Perfect…. Thanks, Joe. Talk to you again soon…. Bye.” Once he’d heard the click on the other end, he tossed the receiver aside and groaned. He’d twisted his knee, got rug burn on his elbow, and the chair that had been held up with duct tape for a whole year had finally bitten the dust. His eyes finally glanced up. And to top it all off, they had a visitor. His cheeks grew hot. A female visitor. A very pretty female visitor.

Keith's eyes were still wide as he looked back at Karla. “Um…excuse me for just a tiny moment.” He wandered over to Levi and had to try really hard not to laugh. “You, uh…okay there, Son?”

Levi propped himself up on his arms as if everything was perfectly normal. “Yeah, why?” His face remained red, despite his calm demeanor. “Found that info on Joe.” He gestured to the paper that was now on the floor as well. “And by the way, we need to buy a new chair.”

“Apparently so.” Keith folded his arms. “Need help getting up?”

“Naw, I was just getting comfortable.” Levi tried to pull his leg loose, but the cuff of his jeans had somehow gotten caught, and no amount of pulling was going to free him. Giving up, his eyes rose to the young woman again and he gave a little wave from where he was. “Hi,” he greeted calmly. “Have you been helped?”