Issue 1 Downtime

Bear was sitting on the pitchers mound looking down the battery to the backstop behind the plate, just going over the events of the past few hours.

She tossed a baseball in the air, catching it in a pitchers glove she had found in the equipment shed.

And on the cloudy day they were having, the first clue she had that she wasn't alone was when she tossed the ball... and it didn't come back down.

She looked up, smiling when she saw the reason for her lost ball.

"You should be careful.. SHEILD considers those things as High Damage Potential Projectiles."

"Only when the right girl's throwing them," he said, smiling a bit as he drifted back down to earth behind her and wrapping his arms around her. "Ahhh... I've been waiting all night to be able to do that."

Bear smiled deeply, the first time in a long time.

"Don't let go, then.." she replied, running her own arms against Ryan's.

Ryan leaned his head forward, kissing her just behind the ear. "So... last night we started mentioning 'change'..."

"And I had made a guess.." she replied.

"And then this morning Ms. McManus mentioned to me that they need help here. Something about 'terrified kids' and 'panicking parents' and such..." he leaned his head to the other side, kissing behind her other ear. "It might be nice," he mused. "Get away from... all that, be able to visit home, help keep the kids safe..."

"We could.. Maybe take things slower, maybe a lighter course load at ESU.. It would be nice, being closer to the commune."

He managed to make a little waving gesture without letting go of her. "They'll still let us take our classes like we were in London. I checked my mail finally... they're going to start bringing more of us through here, so they're going to make that really easy."

He gave her a little squeeze. "But yeah... being closer to the commune would be nice," he admitted.

Bear reversed positions, looking in Ryan's eyes.

"I think it would be good.. We need to deal with Rachel together. And helping out here.. It's like coming home, in a way."

Ryan smiled, pulling her closer. "I always liked it better here than in London... too noisy there. Not enough birds," he said with a little wink.

"not nearly enough.."

She gave him a kiss.

"Zim glad my bird came back."

"And I'm still a hundred percent less likely to get feathers up your nose in your sleep," he teased, kissing her back.