Chapter 7

The moment had passed.

She had been eager enough to leave the building, but the second we stepped into my little black sedan things became awkward again ... by the time we hit lunch time traffic it was just plain uncomfortable.

Unfortunately in bumper to bumper traffic I had nothing to do but to steal glances at my new teenage ward.

Suffice it to say she looked ... on edge.

She was sitting up very straight in her seat, and her hands were clenched into fists on her lap. She was also breathing heavily.

Odd.

I couldn't think of anything to say ... so I turned the radio on. A smooth and slick news reporter voice started talking.

" ... President Mendez refused to give a statement as to if he would be running in the 2028 election ... how this will affect his popularity in the upcoming polls remains to be seen. In other news US multi-billion dollar corporation UniCORP has been officially seized by the FBI as of earlier this week. CEO and founder Ronald Turner was spotted boarding his private jet an hour before the FBI raid. He is currently suspected to be in hiding in Somalia. The company is suspected of tax fraud, and construction of illicit technology, though as to the nature of this technology, Director Henderson in Washington refused to comment ... I'm Sam Young, and this is Afternoon News."

I quickly turned the radio off. I snuck another glance at Sarah. She had a numb expression on her face.

"Sarah..." I began.

"Don't, Jonathan..." She said, her voice breathy.

I dropped it.

I glanced out the window at the traffic. Everyone was out going to lunch. The streets were crowed, people were nearly shoulder to shoulder on the side walk. The snow was melting slightly, giving everything a slightly slushy feel. As if the entire world was wet melting...

Honking erupted on a distant street, probably due to some angry cabbie, and immediately everyone else joined in.

So many people ... it sometimes makes me nauseous.

Sarah closed her eyes and leaned back into the headrest.

"Are we going to be there soon?"

"About ten minutes."

Sarah smiled...

"Good," she said. She rubbed her legs together, and hugged her chest.

"Are you cold?"

"No."

We drove on in silence, choosing to listen to the noise already in the world than add to it.

This was going to be an awkward relationship if neither of us were big talkers.

"Do you have any family that you might want to call?"

She shook her head, "They already asked me that at the hospital."

I shrugged, while keeping my eyes on the traffic infested road. "Sometimes people don't like to call from the hospital or the FBI building ... but then they're on their cells the minute they walk out the door."

She brushed a lock of red hair from her face.

"No ... no family to call."

I simply kept driving.

Eventually we pulled through the bottle neck of the main roads, and traffic slowly disappeared after that.

I owned a town house ... one of those skinny affairs that have about four stories, but only about two rooms on each floor. It cost me much more than an apartment would have, and it was farther away from the Bureau building ... but I liked my space, and my privacy.

We pulled up to my place and I parked in my reserved resident's street side parking.

Sarah simply stared at my house.

"Is that it," she asked. She was pointing towards my white five story town house...

"Yes."

She chuckled. "You don't take very good care of your potted plants do you?"

I ignored her.

"Come on, let's get you inside ... I'm sure your hungry."

We walked through the threshold and I gave her a quick tour.

"On this floor is the kitchen and the living room. Second floor has a guest bedroom and my media room. Third floor is my study, and the fourth floor is the master bed room. Below the first floor is a basement. Complete with a big freezer and pool table."

She busied herself looking around, as if trying to get acquainted to a new home ... or, at least I hope she thought of it as a home ... and not as a prison cell.