Seth tries to do his job the best he can. Yes, he’s the head of the company; yes, his meetings include playing poker; and yes, it works out fine. This time is no different, even though the news is more worrying than usual. But he’s going to take it one step at the time and be just fine. It’s more of the same in the end -- talk to these people, arrange that meeting, and don’t panic anybody. The stakes are higher, but it’s nothing he hasn’t done before. And he gets to spend time at the fire station with Connor. Seth should be good.<br><br>And there’s nothing out of the ordinary on Connor’s end. It’s a normal day, spent doing normal things, with the normal people. He happens to love his life and, though some things could be better, they could also be way worse. Connor is satisfied, and nothing is going to change that.<br><br>Everything is going according to plan. There’s no reason to believe that anything has to change. Right?

Out of Nowhere

“Yeah,” Seth answers with a smile. “Hey, does that mean that you were here the whole time?”


Connor suddenly decides that the pillow isn’t fluffed enough.


“What?! You were shot, you lost a lot of blood, you stopped breathing! What was I supposed to do?” Connor is starting to look pissed off again. “I couldn’t leave you—not until you were out of danger, awake, and on my ass again.”


“Does that mean you’ll get some actual sleep now?”


Connor looks at him incredulously and deflates.


“You have to take care too,” Seth says.


“Fine.” Connor huffs. “I’ll go in a bit.”


“But I’ll be back in the morning!” Connor warns.


Seth’s smile widens. If Connor wants to come earlier and spend the whole day together, where’s the disadvantage? Seth doesn’t see it.


“Oh, your people visited too.” Connor nods to a card that Seth missed. “They’ll be back tomorrow.”


Seth nods. “When?” he asks more to make conversation.


Chapter 13