Leon

I could only watch in uncomprehending horror as Reed's body went rigid, his hands closing into tight fists. After an untold amount of time, his stiff body went slack, and he slumped to the floor. By God"s grace, his head didn't thump heavily onto the floor with the full force of the drop. Staring at him, I waited for him to move before remembering we weren't alone in the building.

The black box in Dr. Greenway's hand was still held out, and I realized what it was. My hands balled into fists as I took a step around the chair Reed had just been sitting in. "You bi?—"

"Don't," she snapped, hastily dropping the Taser and fumbling. I froze when she brought the handgun from the inside pocket of the jacket she was wearing and held it out. "Don't be stupid any more than you already have been."

I fought the urge to hold my hands up as she used both hands to hold the gun toward me. "What are you doing?"

"Cleaning up a mess," she said in a calm voice that was utterly betrayed by the way her eyes darted toward the double doors leading to the clinic. "Now, you're going to come with me. And you're going to be very quiet, you understand?"

Growing up in a rough neighborhood had afforded me the unfortunate experience of being threatened with a weapon more than once. At a glance, I could tell she had only held a gun a couple of times in her life, if that, and was not accustomed to violence. Hell, there was a chance she hadn't even turned the safety off. At the same time, a nervous person with a weapon they weren't accustomed to was even more dangerous than someone calm and experienced.

"Afraid someone's going to walk in and see this? That would be unfortunate," I said, glancing down at Reed's still unmoving body. "You've gone and tased him, and now you're holding me at gunpoint. Where did you even get that?"

"All staff are allowed to carry weapons or defense tools," she said, shaking her head and raising her chin. "The men here may not be murderers, but that doesn't mean you don't have a violent history. We're supposed to carry something on us."

"Never seen you with a gun before."

"Yes, well, in here, it never seemed necessary. We have one in the office, and I have one, this one, in my quarters."

Okay, that was news to me. I didn't even know she lived on the ranch. Reed probably had, but that wouldn't help at the…oh. "Wait, that's why you're here."

Fear sparked in her eyes. "What do you mean? I came back to the clinic to check on Rufus. His health hasn't been all that great lately, and working late hours can be bad for your health even when you're not pushing seventy. And then I found the two of you breaking into our records, and here, Reed, breaking out of his cell with your help and trying to cover his tracks."

"Your tracks," I corrected. "That's why you're here. Kind of late for that, isn't it? Reed's already taking the fall for everything you did, and we both know if Mona knew it was you, you'd be locked up, not him."

She sneered. "Damn, that woman. I'd love to know what pit of hell she spawned from."

It took everything in my being not to move or show anything on my face when I saw movement behind her. Unbelievably, I saw a wrinkled face peer into the hallway before shuffling out and freezing when he saw what was happening. I prayed Dr. Gideon had the sense to keep his mouth shut at the sight of the three of us and get the help we all sorely needed right now.

"You and a whole lot of people at this ranch," I said to cover the silence I'd let stretch, trying to keep Dr. Greenway's attention on me. "What'd she do to piss you off? Notice the shit you were up to?"

"There was always a chance someone would notice," she said with a snort. "You can only alter inventory records and peddle pills to felons for so long without someone noticing. Reed's system changes made it easier for me, and I thought that would be good enough while I kept tweaking things along the way."

"But Mona isn't the type to sit around idly and let things run on their own," I said. "She started nosing around, didn't she?"

"I'd still love to know what tipped her off to start investigating," Dr. Greenway huffed.

"See, that's where you fucked up. Mona doesn't need a reason, or at least not one she's going to share unless she wants to," I said, trying not to sound relieved as I noticed Dr. Gideon was still standing in the hallway. I wasn't focusing on him, so he didn't draw her attention. From what I could see out of the corner of my eye, his hearing wasn't all that bad when he was awake. "Maybe she just had the urge because she was bored. Maybe she knew to keep an eye on freaking drugs at a place full of guys who have drug charges. Or maybe she just had a feeling. No one knows but her and probably Mr. Isaiah."

"It doesn't matter," Dr. Greenway said, shaking her head. "Reed is already taking the fall."

"Yeah, and how's that going to work now?"

"Easy. Take care of you and Reed, feed everyone the necessary story, and let the rest of us move on with our lives."

"Yeah? You're just going to…what? Kill us?"

"Well, leaving both of you around would be rather stupid. You've already heard too much. And Reed isn't exactly stupid. He'd figure things out at some point."

"You're the one who decided to start talking about what you've been doing," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Shit, all you had to do was leave us alone, and your plan would have gone off without a hitch."

"Would it? I stood here long enough to hear what the two of you were up to. Perhaps there was enough in the records for Reed to start making connections, and maybe someone you talked to might have enough information to give me away," she said with a heavy frown. "I was careful to use drop points and ensure no one ever saw me, but that doesn't matter because I couldn't be sure. That bitch is too smart for her own good."

"Or ours," I said, gesturing at Reed, myself, and then her, thinking it was rich for her to call Mona a bitch when she was holding me at gunpoint after stunning Reed. Then again, Mona was a bitch, but at least she used those bitchy powers for good…for the most part. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be in this situation."

She gave me a sick smile. "Tell me about it. Now, what's going to happen is you will come with me."

"Where are we going?" I asked, glancing down at Reed. He didn't seem to have moved, still slumped on his side, legs splayed, one arm behind his back toward me and the other…the other had moved. "I assume it's all of us."

"Don't play stupid with me, Leon," she snapped. "We're going to take a trip to the back so I can…deal with this."

Something else was moved too, but I was too focused on her and the fact that Dr. Gideon finally decided to dip back into the office. I could only hope he was getting help and that help would arrive soon. "There's one little flaw in your plan, which makes sense. A plan on the fly when you're panicking usually has a lot of holes you don't see until it's too late."

"Oh? And what am I missing?"

"Well, the fact that you tased the shit out of Reed. Don't you think people are going to wonder how that happened?"

Her eyes widened briefly, and I could see her thinking about it. I could also see something else she wasn't noticing, the Taser was missing, and Reed was pressing his hand behind his back, five fingers held out and unmoving. My attention snapped back to her when she let out a breath. "That doesn't matter. I stumbled across the two of you in the break room. When you tried to attack me, I managed to stun Reed but was forced to shoot you. When Reed recovered, he attacked me again when he saw you. Tragically, I had to take his life as well. See? Easy fix."

"Clearly," I said dryly.

"One could be a little more intelligent when they have a weapon held on them," she said, wiggling the gun for emphasis.

"First of all, lady," I began snidely. "You are not the first person to threaten me with a weapon and don't think you're special because you have a lot to lose. Plenty of people end up in the same creek as you and are dangerous because of it. And look, I'm still here."

She scoffed. "You really think anyone is going to save you?"

"I never needed much saving before," I told her. "And second of all, you're not nearly as smart as you think."

"Oh, you think you know me?" she asked with wide eyes, stepping forward so she had one leg over Reed's body.

Reed's thumb dropped, leaving four fingers.

"Not hard to figure out you're not all that smart." Three fingers now. "This whole cover-up was half-assed, as is your attempt to recover from it." Two fingers. "And for the record, what kind of moron tells the person they're holding at gunpoint that they're going to kill them?" One finger. "You know what that does?"

"What's that?" she hissed between gritted teeth.

"Makes them desperate and do stupid shit to stay alive," I told her as the final finger disappeared, and I shoved against the ground, hurtling myself to the side as hard as I could.

Startled, she tried to follow me with the gun. I lost track of what happened as I hit the ground, and the air was filled with the harsh crack of the gun going off. As I scrambled to get to my feet, I heard her grunt and a clatter of the gun. I got up just in time to see Reed jab her with the Taser one more time, holding it to her lower back as he pushed to his feet, panting.

Dr. Greenway dropped to the ground, making me wince when her head hit the ground. Reed stood over her, his chest heaving as he finally looked up, holding the Taser in his hand.

"I was so hoping you understood what I meant when I started the countdown," he said between heavy breaths. "I know from personal experience how this cunt of a device makes you seize up, and I really didn't want to get you shot."

I laughed at the sheer venom of the word I'd never heard him use before and in sheer relief. "Jesus Christ, I fucking love you."

I rushed to wrap my arms around him, pulling him in for a tight hug as his hand fell on my lower back. I buried my face into his neck and pulled him tight, making him gasp.

"Babe," he groaned, pushing against my stomach. "Maybe not a hug. That burn hurts like hell."

"Oh. Sorry," I spat out and backed up a little, keeping my arms around his neck. "I'm so sorry I didn't see her sooner, but I'm glad you're alright."

"Says the man who kept her blathering like an idiot," he said, looking down at her. "Not that it's going to do a whole lot of good. Unless she left some evidence behind, our word won't count much against hers. Not unless Mona is really willing to listen to us after you broke me out and we rummaged through records we definitely were not supposed to."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," I said as I watched Dr. Gideon peek out of the office. "It's alright, nobody was hurt."

"Good Lord," Dr. Gideon muttered, coming down the hallway slowly. "For the life of me, I cannot believe this."

"Dr. Gideon?" Reed said in confusion.

"Please tell me you heard her," I pleaded with him.

"And that you're going to tell the truth," Reed said, eyeing the older man suspiciously.

Dr. Gideon gasped and, in an affronted tone, said, "Of course, I plan to say what I just heard and witnessed. Just what do you take me for?"

"A man who actively hates me and a colleague of Alice," Reed said testily.

Dr. Gideon huffed. "Well. That means next to nothing. She has gone beyond simply violating professional and medical principles. She has insulted them with her actions."

"This from the man who spends his work hours napping," Reed said dryly.

"Reed," I chided softly. "What the hell?"

Dr. Gideon smiled at that. "Well, I suppose you have a point, but I do my job when I'm required to, and I would never dream of letting her get away with this kind of…well, no. We're here to take care of these men, not feed into their addictions or create new ones."

"Well, that's a relief," Reed said, and I thought that might be the closest to an apology we were going to hear.

"And for the record, I never disliked you, Reed. You just seemed too preoccupied keeping yourself busy and changing everything around here," Dr. Gideon said, making his way toward the front doors. "You needed to learn to slow down and simply enjoy the moment. And let me have my quiet time."

"Well, that is officially the cherry on today's weird sundae," Reed muttered, watching Dr. Gideon walk away with a bewildered expression.

I glanced down. "I think she's waking up, we should probably?—"

Reed dropped down, knocking me off balance as he jammed the Taser into her upper back this time. My eyes widened as he held it there while a pitiful whine was forced out of her lips, her body going rigid. He held it to her for several more seconds before releasing it and standing upright again, a furious expression on his face.

"Uh, feel better?" I asked him, eyes still wide.

He looked at me, blinking. "What? You said she was waking up."

"That was a little excessive."

"Yes, well, it hurt a lot…bitch."

I snorted, reaching to take the Taser from him. "Why don't you sit down since you've been through a lot."

"I'm—"

"Not fine. Sit down while we wait for the cavalry to arrive. Don't argue. We both know you'd be telling someone who just got tased to rest."

"Fine," he said, moving over to the seat and dropping into it gracelessly. "Just how much shit do you think is about to roll downhill?"

"I guess we'll see."

* * *

"So,"Mona began, clasping her hands in front of her and resting them in her lap as she sat on the edge of Mr. Isaiah's desk. "Let me see if I have this straight."

"This should be interesting," I muttered, earning a dark look from Mona and an elbow in my side from Reed.

"What?" I protested, sinking into the chair and crossing my arms. "I'm exhausted."

It had been, what? Twelve hours since the events of the clinic, and neither of us had gotten any sleep, save for the twenty-minute nap Reed managed while we were left to sit around and cool our heels. I hadn't been so lucky. I was starting to feel the effects of exhaustion, and it was making me cranky.

"Fine," I sighed, motioning to Mona. "Go ahead."

"You," she said, looking at me. "Decided you were going to break into our jail to see Reed, despite my promise that you would be able to if you behaved yourself."

"Yes."

"But you also planned to try to convince him to come with you to the clinic to dig through patient files. Confidential patient files, I might add."

"Ah, I made sure he didn't look at them," Reed said.

"And I didn't," I said because, despite glancing at the screen, I couldn't have told anyone what I'd seen. I hadn't been trying to make sense of what was displayed when I had someone better equipped to read everything right there with me.

"Not the point," she said, rubbing her forehead. "Neither of you were supposed to be reading those files. One of you isn't even a licensed professional, and the other is technically suspended."

"Didn't stop anyone from letting me access them before," Reed said, apparently feeling cranky.

"It was limited access," Mona pointed out. "And you were supposed to be locked up."

"So we've circled back around to that?" I wondered wearily. If we were going to be running circles all day then I was never going to grab some sleep before I passed out.

"No," she said, glancing at Mr. Isaiah behind his desk, who had said nothing so far and was watching us gravely. "And you took advantage of Max's…lapse in judgment."

"Also, yes," I said, remembering the look on his face when he heard me say I had been lurking outside the building for hours, waiting to see if he might leave and give me a chance to slip inside. If I wasn't mistaken, I was going to get an earful from him when he caught me alone later…that was if Mona didn't throw both Reed and me in a cell for our part in this debacle.

She eyed me, and I didn't need to read her mind to know she didn't believe me for one moment. Even though Max had accepted the chewing out he had undoubtedly taken from her, her heart hadn't really been in it. She suspected he'd played a far more significant role in all this, but there was no way in hell I would sell Max out. Especially because not only had I lied for him, probably pissing him off, Reed and I had slipped out of the building when he thought we'd stay there, definitely pissing him off.

Hmm, maybe prison wouldn't be too bad.

"Right," she said as if the agreement stuck in her throat, forcing her to clear it before continuing. "And that's when Alice Greenway caught the two of you in action."

"And tased me," Reed muttered angrily. "For an excessive amount of time, I might add."

"I recall that when she was looked over a few hours ago, she had two noticeable burn marks on her upper and lower back," Mona said, raising her brow. "So you can rest assured she managed to get hers."

"I know," he said, still sounding grumpy. I had a suspicion that if we didn't get our asses handed to us over this, he was going to be bitching about getting tased for days. Reed wasn't a man to complain for the most part, but good lord, when he found something to complain about, he could milk it to death, resurrect it, and leave it begging for the peace of death as he continued milking it.

"She tased Reed, stunning him. She wielded a gun at you," she continued, looking at me while I nodded. "And she told you it was her? Just like that?"

"Didn't Dr. Gideon talk to you about this already? What he heard," I asked, wondering if the old man had backed out at the last minute.

"He missed the beginning," she said. "Including the part where you magically managed to get her to fess up."

"Magically," I scoffed. "I'd say she was cocky, which she was, but she was scared and panicking. I didn't magically do anything but scare the crap out of her that she was going to get caught because of us. She was rambling, which probably made her feel better and more in control, kind of like the gun did. So she talked, and I kept her talking. Mostly to stall time for someone to show up after I saw Dr. Gideon return to his office, but then Reed offered a different opportunity."

"You're lucky you didn't get shot," she said with a scowl. "That stunt was breaking so many goddamn rules?—"

"Language," Mr. Isaiah chided gently, speaking for the first time.

She rolled her eyes. "So many damn rules, and incredibly dangerous."

"I'll tell you the same thing I told her," I said with a shrug. "Making people desperate can push them to do stupid, impulsive things to survive."

"Or perhaps I'm just surrounded by stupid, impulsive people who endanger themselves unnecessarily," she said with a shake of her head.

"Unnecessarily?" Reed asked, mirroring my confusion. "It wasn't like we knew the culprit was going to show up and attack us because we were getting too close to the truth."

"I…yes, well, sometimes things do tend to get out of control," she said, then frowned. "Especially around here, it seems."

I watched her for a moment, something nagging at me. "Mona?"

There! A moment of hesitation before she looked up and asked, "Yes?"

"Just how much did you believe Reed was responsible? And how much did you suspect Dr. Greenway?" I asked, taking a shot in the dark. I watched her jaw tense and the way Mr. Isaiah glanced at her quickly.

"Wait, what?" Reed wondered, glancing at me and then at Mona, eyes wide. "Hello?"

"God…" She paused, rolling her eyes again. "Excuse me, damn you, Leon."

Mr. Isaiah sighed. "Might as well. From what we've seen, these two will dig until they end up in hot water. So you might as well spare everyone the trouble."

"And the paperwork," Mona agreed. "If you would, Garrett?"

"Of course," he said, standing up. "You boys want something?"

"Whatever the hell you gave me the last time I was in here, a double if you're feeling generous," I said in the nicest tone I could manage.

"I might just be feelin' mighty generous," he said with a chuckle. "And maybe it might be enough to keep the peace around here for a bit longer."

"I'm beginning to doubt that," Reed said between clenched teeth, glaring at Mona.

She watched him as Mr. Isaiah went about pouring drinks, handing glasses to Reed and me first, waiting until we'd taken a drink before stepping away to pour more. Then he made Mona and himself one, handing hers over and returning to his seat. After she took a sip, she glanced back at him, a silent conversation occurring between them before she finally sighed.

"I had suspicions, yes." she finally said.

"Goddammit," Reed hissed.

"Language," Mr. Isaiah chided gently.

"Sorry, sir."

"You had strong suspicions," I said, watching her. "I'd bet you were almost completely sure. But there's a but?—"

"But Alice was decent at covering her tracks. Worse yet, Reed, through being the ever-helpful man he is, ended up making himself inadvertently the best target."

"I…what?" Reed asked, looking at her in confusion.

"Well, the staff is in hot water for letting you take care of so much they were supposed to be responsible for, but yes, having access like you did made you look more suspicious than before. That and she purposefully chose Rufus' login, using it only when you were on shift. And it was known that you had access to patient information, including their injuries and issues."

Reed grimaced. "I had the perfect collection of people to sell to if I wanted."

"Precisely."

"How long?"

"Has she been selling and stealing?"

"How fucking long has she been setting me up?"

"Ah," she said with a sip. "From the beginning. Seventeen months, give or take. The operation started outside the ranch, but she got greedy, impulsive, or who knows, and moved in toward the ranch about six months ago, when I began to catch on."

"Six months?" Reed asked, his eyes darting back and forth. He was putting something together, slapping a missing piece into place, and grunted, "That's when you asked me to push Leon in the ‘right' direction."

"Of course you told him," she sighed.

"Yeah, and so what?" Reed asked. "People do that when they're close and trust one another. Maybe you?—"

"No, wait," I said, gripping his arm and squeezing. "Let her speak because I suddenly have this feeling that trying to push me wasn't her intent."

Mona's brow arched elegantly. "Well, on point as usual. It was your agreement that made you suspicious in my mind once I realized what was going on. If you were willing to be duplicitous with someone who cares about you, and you for him, what else might you be willing to do?"

"How ironic, he told me in the moments leading up to you showing up with your goon squad," I said with a snort.

"That is almost fitting," she said with a sigh, setting her glass aside. "Quite honestly, I tried to find a solution that didn't point to you. All the pieces seemed to fit, but there was something wrong with how the picture looked in my head. I felt there were pieces I was missing, and I felt they pointed toward her."

"So you were, what? Sitting around waiting for her to confess out of the goodness of her heart?" Reed asked.

"No," she said, not bothered by his attitude and probably expecting it. "It was why I kept digging, under the guise of ensuring I had every piece of evidence to get you with and find other potential sellers and buyers. Simultaneously I was keeping Alice on smaller, less frequent shifts. I was busy applying pressure in every direction I could while delaying the very real possibility that I would have to call to have you collected."

"Wait, you didn't call?" Reed asked, his surprise breaking through his anger.

Mr. Isaiah chuckled. "Nope, had to talk all sorts of circles with some concerned donors. Not sure how they caught wind of it, but that's how it can be around here."

"Helps when you wine and dine them," she said with a smirk, nodding back at Mr. Isaiah. "An excellent skill set of his."

"And you put Dane with him on purpose," I said, remembering he'd been part of the goon squad and had been set as his guard at least once at night.

"Dane was wriggling hard under pressure, and I'm still convinced he knows more than he's letting on. But now he gets to breathe a sigh of relief that he doesn't have to fess up since his dealer went and sold herself out in front of three of the most honest people we have here."

"Uh, are you talking about Dr. Gideon?" Reed asked in disbelief.

"Rufus might not be the hardest worker, but his values are indisputable. He lost his job because of office politics surrounding the ethics of taking kickbacks to push new drugs on patients. When he refused and tried to raise a fuss, he lost his job, was blacklisted from just about every hospital and clinic in the state, and became a pariah."

Reed's face went still and then crunched up. "Does he, uh, know what my charges were?"

She tilted her head. "He does. And no, I did not tell him. He found out from an article. He still keeps up on medical news, including of the more scandalous nature. Personally, I think he's just a gossip fiend."

"I guess that explains a few things," Reed said with a sigh. "What I got my ass burned for was probably a little too close to home for him. Explains why he was so cold to me the first couple of years."

"You weren't his favorite," she admitted with a laugh. "But by all accounts, he has warmed up to you."

"Miracles do happen," he said and then winced. "Fuck, now I feel horrible for how much of a dick I was to him."

"Well, then you both have time to make it up to one another," Mona said with a shrug.

Reed looked up, eyes wide. "Wait, we're not being ousted?"

Mona gave him an incredulous look. "What for?"

"Well, probably everything we did in the past, I don't know, twelve hours or so?" I asked, glancing up at the clock and choking on my drink. "Sorry, eighteen hours. Holy shit, I've been up for almost forty-eight hours. Kill me."

"Later," Reed said distantly, gesturing toward Mona.

She laughed. "Oh, don't mistake me. The two of you are in trouble for your little stunt. Even if it was a delaying tactic on my part, you both severely violated the rules. You two, and Max for that matter, will be in trouble."

"C'mon, he wanted to talk to his boyfriend. That's on me," I protested.

She snorted. "I was born at night, Leon, but it wasn't last night. I know I'll never get the full truth, but I know that man had more to do with this than he's letting on or that you two will admit. Don't worry. I know docking his pay means nothing, and putting him on temporary leave just means more Riley time, but I have the perfect punishment, and it provides a solution for one of my new problems."

"What new problem?" I asked.

"Why, the loss of one of my best mentors. No, scratch that, my best mentor."

"Uh, shit."

She winked. "You two will be on probation, and during that time, you will be bumped down to Tier Two, losing the privileges you had. If, after six months, you have behaved yourselves, we'll consider putting you back up to Tier One. And your mentor status will be lost and have to be reviewed in the same order."

My eyes widened. "Oh."

Reed let out a bark of laughter and covered his mouth. "Oh shit."

I looked at him. "What?"

"Max."

"What about…oh no."

Mona's smile turned evil, and sometimes I really wondered what it was about her and Max that brought out the worst in each other despite how much they respected one another. "He will fill in for you as a mentor while we wait to see if you're still up for the job when the time for review comes up. In the meantime, you two will be reassigned. For now, Reed, you will work with the animals under Max's eye with a once-a-week shift at the clinic."

"Oh, hell's bells," Reed said with a wince. "That's worse than the demotion."

"And you, Leon, will be assigned to work closely with me."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I need an assistant."

"Okay, now you can kill me."

"Upside?" she asked, glancing between us, and when we winced, she chuckled. "You'll be moving out of your respective cabins. But considering we don't have anyone to room with you, you two will share the same Tier Two cabin. So suck it up princesses, your life hasn't ended, I still like you both, and now you can go get some damn sleep, and maybe I can find some peace."

We stared at her for several seconds until Mr. Isaiah raised his hand with a chuckle. "And that would be your cue to leave. Nice seeing you gentlemen again, oh and Reed?"

"Yes, sir?" Reed asked as he stood up.

"Glad we're going to keep you around and that you were the man we all thought you were."

"Thank you, sir."

"And I apologize that you went through all this, I hope it doesn't sour you on this place."

Reed gave a soft smile. "No sir, it hasn't. In fact, after I'm off probation, I'd like to talk to Mona about something."

"Me too," I said.

"Oh?" she asked, turning back to the conversation. "Such as?"

"We're going to take our leave," I said, earning a frown from her and a chuckle from Mr. Isaiah. "Do we have our new cabin now or?—"

"Go to whichever. I'll deal with that sometime this week," she said grumpily, waving us off, which we took and left the office.

"You know," Reed said once we entered the foyer. "I think that's the first time I've ever seen her get shut down by someone."

"She's the one who wanted me to start acting almost like her equal."

"You're going to take her up on the offer of the job here, aren't you?"

"And you're going to ask if you can come back and work at the clinic as a fully licensed doctor after you graduate, aren't you?"

He chuckled, taking my hand as we descended the stairs. "We know each other quite well, don't we?"

"We do," I said, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. "Fuck, we did it."

"We did," he said.

I didn't care what anyone might or might not see. I pulled him in close for a kiss. I let some of the relief flood through me as I realized we were in the clear. It might not have looked good there for a minute, but now we were free, and after being punished for savaging the rules, we would be even closer to being truly free.

"You know, even with all this," he said as we pulled apart and kept walking. "You're probably still slated to graduate from the program before I do."

"Okay, so?" I wondered as we reached the double doors.

"You'll be an employee here, and I'll still be in the program. That's definitely against the rules," he said.

"That's very true," I said as I grabbed the doors. "But you know what?"

"What?"

"We'll figure it out."

"You know, I think we might."

And I pushed open the doors, walking out into the welcome embrace of the sun as I held his hand.