[Sadrain]

December 14th, Chicago. Base. Hospital.

At first, Ryan was disappointed that he hadn't guessed correctly. Then, he watched with interest what she tried to show him and then laughed a little. "I should have known. It sounds so like you, to like them all." She was a sweet girl, probably the sweetest person he had ever known. Somehow pure, untainted by all the pain and horrors she must have gone trough - and still did. Yet, Alice did rely on him, and he would not let her down.

Ryan smiled, even more honestly now, to see her so happy at the thought of a garden. Another thing in his imaginary list for future, then. Although it was already turning into mansions of sorts, and would require a lot of money, he didn't bother with making it more down to earth. Once in a while, everyone should be allowed to dream.

Ryan stayed talking about random things and envisioning that possible garden (to his rather limited knowledge) for a while more, but then nurse came and told it was time for bed. He had missed dinners and the man's stomach reminded it loudly. After giving her a soft kiss on forehead and bidding Alice good night, Ryan left to find something edible and have some sleep. Tomorrow would not be an easy day.

December 15th, Chicago. Base.

Ryan arrived about half hour later. He was now used to about 4-6 hours of sleep, so he naturally woke up after that. In a way, it was good to live in a place like this - you could sleep as much as you wanted, eat something when you wanted and feel safe, at least for now. But although he had wanted to reach such level for years, Ryan was restless. He now wanted more, he had true goals and dreams. And someone to take care of.

His arm was still stiff, and Ryan hoped Eve would not just break it out of elbow joint, or off his shoulder, but it was already quite usable. He sat down on one of the empty house doorsteps, staring at the opposite wall in silence.