Manners

Having been awake, Garret was fully aware when Maggie came into the room. He looked at her dimly and didn't move when she touched his arm. He wasn't sure if staying in here all day had dampened his mood, or if his mood was what had kept him here. Either way, he didn't feel like joining the others for supper. 

"Maggie, I..." He stopped when he saw her eyes. There was so much hope in them. Why did she keep doing this to him? He sighed before rolling his eyes. "Okay..." He finally moved to slide out of bed, and ran a hand through his hair. He'd go...for her. Or maybe for his stomach. Maybe both.

Walking slowly behind her in his bare feet, he came into the dining room to find the table set and waiting. It was different than when he'd arrived late. It was different than being fed in his room. They were asking him into their intimate family time and... it felt... uncomfortable. 

He nodded politely to Laura though, and caught Nate's eye. Whose idea was it to keep him around anyway? 

Once seated, he waited quietly as a prayer was said. Interesting. Odd. But interesting. He wasn't really surprised though with all the Bible verses around the house. As he ate his food, he silently took note of everything in the room. Every sound. Smell. Movement. Word.

"This is very good," he complimented Laura on the casserole. "Thank you."

Laura raised her eyebrows, surprised, but grateful. "You're welcome, Garret. I'm glad you like it." She took a sip of water before catching Nate's eye. She was still amazed at his table manners - even how he handled his silverware - and she couldn't help but wonder where he'd really been all these years. 


Jason finally calmed down enough to smirk as he wiped his eyes. "Right. Yeah. Sorry. How inconsiderate of me." He cleared his throat, and laughed again. "Sorry. So where were we?"

He wound up eating a little more, but took about half with him in a take out box, making Katie promise not to tell Rick. 

Back at the Elite, Jason parked in the lot and shut off the engine before looking over at Katie. "Thanks...this was...nice. No matter what. No regrets."


"Mmm, I don't know." Axel was on his back underneath an old pickup, while at the same time, Leo was bent over the open hood. "This isn't gonna be a quick one."

"Agreed." Leo grimaced as he prodded around inside the engine. "We better let the customer know it's gonna be a couple days. I don't see any way around it."

Axel rolled out towards the front of the truck to look up at Leo. "What else we got on schedule?"

"Um...lemme go look." As Leo turned, his elbow accidentally brushed up against the toolbox that was sitting on the edge of the engine. It hadn't been secured well to begin with, and all it took was a bump. Realizing what he'd done, Leo was quick to yell a warning to Axel. "Look out!"

Reflexes sent Axel scooting back underneath the truck to protect his head, but having used his hands for leverage left them exposed. Though the odds were great, all it took was that split second for the edge of the toolbox to rake Axel's fingers on its way down, then land squarely on his right hand. The pain was so great it took his breath away, and for a moment, he just sat still, almost dazed.

Leo was on the floor in an instant to move the toolbox, ignoring the wrenches that were now scattered all about. Quickly but carefully he shifted the box to set it aside and helped Axel out from under the pickup. Axel just sat and leaned his head back against the bumper, letting his hand rest in his lap. Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to breathe through the pain.

"Axel? You okay? I am so sorry. Is it bad? What do you need?"

He pried open his eyes to look at Leo's scared face. It hadn't been his fault - it was an accident, and Axel couldn't blame him. "Ice," he managed.

Leo sprinted for the break room fridge.

In the meantime, Miles had seen what had happened, and now knelt next to Axel. "You need to go to the ER?"

For the first time, Axel dared a glance at his hand. The top was already bruising and starting to swell, his knuckles skinned and bleeding but not too badly. His palm had also landed on a piece of gravel, which, under the pressure of the falling toolbox, just compounded the pain. "I don't know," he finally answered through gritted teeth. "I...I can't tell if it's broken or not."

Mile grimaced. He knew that was Axel's bad hand to begin with. "This isn't gonna be good, is it?"

"Uh-uh." Axel took another deep breath and swallowed hard. His hand started to tremble, making the pain even worse. As Leo arrived with the ice, he gingerly wrapped it up between the cold bags and stood with the other guys' help.

"Come on," Miles directed. "I'll drive you to the hospital."

...It was several hours later. Axel's hand was wrapped in a sling, and his stomach churning from the pain meds he was taking. No bones were broken - that was the good news. But there was some pretty deep bruising, and the impact alone had caused trauma to his already-damaged nerves. Nothing was for certain until this new injury healed, and Axel knew that. But deep down, he had a growing suspicion that all the repair work Misty had done would now be severely diminished. It was the way his fingers tingled. It was the feel of numbness. It was the kind of pain. It was all too familiar. He'd been doing so well - functioning so well. And now this. It was frustrating at the very least, depressing at most. But...he pasted on a smile anyway. He'd promised to take Jess to the lake tonight, so to the lake they would go. He'd brushed her off too many times before when he'd had a rough day - and he knew it was a bad habit that he needed to work on.

Sighing, he made his way to Jess' door before knocking. He hadn't told her about the accident since he hadn't wanted her to worry, but now he was questioning that choice.