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nine

Rika opens the door to find Lucky with his eyes closed, as if he's been resting while she was gone.

"Mr. Yoshikawa?" She says softly.

He opens his eyes as she calls Jin's name.

"I didn't wake you did I?"

"No." He answers. "I was awake."

"How are you feeling?" She asks, stepping into the room.

"Just a little uncomfortable. I think they dosed me pretty heavily with pain meds so I'm not feeling a whole lot at the moment."

She smiles at him as she crosses to the cabinet next to the bed and retrieves her bag.

"What did the doctor say about your head?"

"Oh, he said it's okay, just a nasty bump but no real damage."

"That's a relief." He sighs. "Rika, I'm really sorry I got you involved in all this."

"It's okay," she says, "I think this will be one of those proverbial 'good stories to tell your grand kids' about one day, kind of things." She crosses back over to the couch and sits down.

His eyes never leave her; she looks utterly worn through.

"Listen," they both begin and stop at the same time then laugh.

"Go ahead." Lucky says to her. "You go first."

"Well," she begins hesitantly, "I was wondering if it would be alright if I slept here on your couch tonight?"

Lucky begins to laugh again, but stops short when he realizes she's misunderstood.

"No," he says quickly, "I wasn't laughing because you asked if you could sleep here, I was laughing because I was about to ask you the same thing:  If you wouldn't mind too much, would you be able to stay here on the couch tonight?"

She laughs again now too.

"I meant what I said about not liking hospitals; they really freak me out. So I'd be very grateful if you'd be willing to stay here with me."

"Uh-huh," she says, "I guess it works out pretty well for both of us then." She looks over at him and smiles as she gently returns the bag to her lap.

"Um, Rika," he says after another minute, "can I ask you something?" He looks over at Jin to catch his attention.

"Sure Mr. Yoshikawa."

"Well first, please don't call me Mr. Yoshikawa, just call me Lu, uh, I mean Jin. And the question might be personal so if you don't want to answer I understand - but what was with all the stuff in your car? It kind of looked like you were moving but had to leave in a hurry." He glances up to see if Jin is still paying attention, he is.

"Oh," she says, "well, yes. It's kind of a long story, but I had to get out of my home today and I haven't had a chance to find somewhere else to go yet."

Jin is paying attention and asks:  "What does she mean had to get out and has no where to go?"

Lucky hears him, but isn't pursuing that line of questioning any further at the moment.

"But wait, when did you see the stuff in my car?"  She asks.

"It must have been as I rolled off. You know how they say an adrenaline rush heightens your perceptions. Plus I'm an artist so I tend to pick up visual information very quickly." A reasonably plausible explanation, he decides.

"Oh, that's right, I did over-hear some of the nurses talking about how they have a famous artist in house for a while. I'm sorry but I'm not very familiar with your work."