Wolfe paused a long moment before looking back at Nic, "We... need to watch her," he stated, "She hasn't informed me what the Okorie told her." His eyes focused a little harder on Nic, "But what we do know is that they sent her back to us. She was waiting for Snow and Blaze and she told Raven on the Juttle that she didn't want to return. They forced her to return to us. The question I've been struggling with is 'why?'" he explained.

--

Rosen cussed right back and continued to cut her off.

"'Why' not?" Nic asked in response to his dilemma.

--

Missy kept fighting, not backing down.

Wolfe paused again, "They have been chasing her, nearly shot down our Juttle to get her... then when they do, they send her back. I need to understand why. I need to know if they've made Laurel a threat to us."

Nic stared at Wolfe for a moment, a little confused. Then he rephrased his previous statement. "Assume she's a threat," he suggested.

--

After swimming with Frei for an hour and forty minutes, Raven was exhausted and retreated to his room where he passed out on his bed still in his swim trunks.

Wolfe was silent for a long moment as well. "... Has no one told you what occurred in Chicago?" he finally asked, a bit of surprise seeping into his voice.

Nic said nothing, waiting for Wolfe to continue.

"Laurel didn't see your note," Wolfe began simply, "Then she overheard what she thought was you and Yue talking. She took a virtual map off of Rosemary's collar and left. It appears that she'd always known where to find the Okorie. I sent Snow, Blaze, Raven and Frei after her. They spend two days looking for her. Snow infiltrated a Yin Long bar and set up multiple cameras and wiretaps. Raven met Long and after they traded all the information from these camera's for Long's confirmation that the Yin Long had not taken Laurel. A few hours later, Laurel's bracelet suddenly came back on and Snow and Blaze found her sitting at a fountain. She showed extraordinary agility that was not there before. I assume this has something to do with her enhanced eyes. I already told you what took place on the Juttle ride back," he summarized in a simple and efficient manner.

Nic looked away fairly early on as Wolfe noticed a crack in his normally emotionless demeanor. He did his best to hide it, but by the end he was struggling very hard not to let his emotions get to him. He slowly got up and started to walk out without a word.

Wolfe said nothing, letting Nic leave as he went back to cleaning.

Nic disappeared for awhile before slowly making his way back to his room.

The next few days continued rather uneventfully. Nic continued to regain his strength. Raven entertained Frei part of the day and tried to spend the rest cleaning by himself or with Wolfe and taking an hour or two to himself. Blaze still had not carried through with any sort of prank on Kale.

Kale was getting used to Blaze not being around as surprisingly... Pepper began to help him recover. Every now and then he was seen walking slowly through the halls with her support.

Nic was noticing Laurel getting tanner as she spent a few afternoons going places with James. She continued to sleep with Nic at night and gave him affection but Nic could tell there was still a rather large part of herself that was walled off to him. A part of her seemed to still protecting herself from getting hurt by him again.

Rosen continued his antics with Missy, beating and getting beat by her at video games.

Frei scolded Raven for falling asleep in his swim-trunks with Wolfe looking on. Wolfe made time for Raven but it was clear that he was not his first priority at the moment.

Nic didn't mention what Wolfe had told him to Laurel, letting things remain they were for the time being. After awhile, Laurel could start feeling that he was holding something more that hadn't been there before from her. But he more or less acted like normal, but he tended to disappear for a few hours randomly each day.

Raven seemed to accept that he wasn't Wolfe's first priority, wanting a minimal amount of attention for now. But after awhile he started pestering Wolfe to set aside a few hours when he had the time.

Laurel finally had had enough of his new burden and the secrecy. "You might as well just tell me what it is," she informed Nic as she fluffed up his pillow, "The more I get to know you, the worse I realize you are at hiding things."

Wolfe worked a few things out and bought himself a few hours, telling Raven when they were.

Nic didn't say anything.

That made Raven happy. He told Wolfe to meet him on the outskirts of the wing of the resort they had cleaned up when it was time.

Laurel paused, leaning over Nic's face, "Hey, I'm talking to you," she told him.

Wolfe blinked but nodded. He arrived in his typical attired and seemed a little tired but interested in what Raven was up to.

Nic acknowledged Laurel, but he seemed to retreat a little further back.

Raven showed up a few minutes late, also in his typical attire. He apologized for being late, but claimed the wait would be worth it.

Laurel sighed, pausing a long moment. Then she slowly moved to the foot of the bed and began to massage one of his legs, "I don't know what else I can do... to prove to you that I'd do anything for you," she told him quietly.

Wolfe didn't seem to care that Raven was late. "... What did you do?" he asked with a slightly tilted eyebrow.

As was seeming to become common, Nic seemed to slowly attempt to let his guard down as Laurel touched him. He struggled over the words for a long time, but finally he asked quietly, "What am I not doing right?"

Raven just smiled. "You'll be proud of me," he promised.

Laurel was silent for awhile as she slowly moved down his leg, "... Why do you always shut me out?" she asked, not able to completely keep the bitterness from her tone.

Wolfe raised the other eyebrow as he waited for Raven's surprise.

Nic struggled some more, trying to find the connection. "... What do you mean," he asked after a moment, trying to understand her thoughts.

--

Raven didn't waste too much more time as he took Wolfe's hand and lead him further into the resort. The walk wasn't too long, but it was a little bit maze-like. But eventually Raven brought Wolfe to an unmarked room in the middle of nowhere and opened the door.

It looked like this had been some sort of multipurpose room in the past. The ceiling was a little higher than in most areas, giving the windowless room a surprisingly open feeling to it. There wasn't much inside, but it looked like Raven had really put a lot of time into making everything squeaky clean. There was a low table in the middle of the room covered in random and varied snack foods he had stolen from the kitchen with a few bean bag chairs around it to lounge in. It looked like Raven had found some portable projection equipment and rigged it up against one of the walls for a movie.

"You... always shut me out," she repeated, "I understand that you've been abused in the past and I understand that I seem naive to you so you like to protect me," she stated calmly, "But you hardly ever tell me anything important and sometimes..." she paused, repeating Raven's suggestion in her mind before spitting it out there, "when I'm with you, I feel like I don't exist."

--

Wolfe blinked. Looked around. And then blinked again. He glanced at Raven for a moment and then back at the room. "... Is this... a date?" he asked for clarification.

That seemed to confuse Nic even more. He tried to figure it out for awhile before seeming to give up. "... I... don't understand," he admitted quietly, not looking at Laurel.

--

"Uh..." Raven muttered, a little surprised by his reaction. "... If you want it to be," he decided. "I just thought you could use some time away from everyone else. The bean bags are pretty comfy if you just want to nap for awhile. I'm pretty sure no one else knows about this place - I've been working on making sure I'm not being followed."

Laurel paused, "Like... when we got into a fight over Kandy... which I understand better now," she hesitated for a moment but went on, "You... didn't think about me at all and took a dangerous drug without even... having the decency to tell me. And that wasn't the first time. If something gets too emotional for you... you just mentally check out and leave me to try and figure things out on my own. It's actually... really lonely, you boulder," she mumbled at the end, trying to find words for her emotions.

--

Wolfe nodded to the first part of Raven's reply and glanced over at his after his last statement. He actually smiled a little, letting out an undignified snort.

Raven was very surprised. He blinked at Wolfe a little before glancing out the door. "... Did someone follow us...?" he asked quietly.

Wolfe shook his head a little. He seemed more amused at the image of Raven trying to not be followed.

Raven seemed to get it after a moment, giving Wolfe a sour face.

Wolfe smirked back a little before walking over to the table and munching on a few snacks.

So Raven joined him, plopping down in one of the chairs before munching on some candy.

Wolfe paused a moment, looking suspiciously at the bean bag chair before very slowly and gingerly sitting into it with as much dignity as possible. As Frei had warned Raven, he definitely had trouble relaxing.

Raven didn't say anything as Wolfe sat, but that was so strange to him. After a moment he noted for the record, "You don't have to impress me. You can drop the leader face if you want; I won't tell anyone."

Wolfe paused, glancing at Raven before looking at the food on the table, "It's not... that simple," he replied after a moment.

Raven nodded, respecting that even though he didn't understand it. "Is there anything I can do to make this more comfortable for you?" he asked.

Wolfe didn't reply as he reached out took some more food. He ate quietly for a moment before looking at the projector, "What movie did you bring?"

"Uh, a few," he replied before listing off five or six movies of various genres. He was a little worried this would be a dud 'date.' But he still wasn't used to the thought of jet packing through the sky, so he'd let Wolfe adjust in his own time. And hopefully he wouldn't be completely bored out of his mind in the process.

Wolfe nodded a little, "What do you want to watch?" he asked after a moment.

Wolfe eliminated two movies and offered Wolfe a choice between the remainder.

Surprisingly, Wolfe hesitantly chose the comedy.

Raven was rather surprised, but he got the movie set up and turned off the lights.

And surprisingly again, Wolfe moved his beanbag chair next to Raven's while keeping his dignity.

Raven moved a little too to help him out, but didn't worry about his dignity in the process.