Sorry it's taken me so long to update! Things have been pretty bad lately. But I'll live :)

*one week later*

Ria Torres walked into Lightman's office without knocking. "Loker is getting out today." She reminded him.

He glared at her. "I know." He got up to shove her out the door. "What happened to knocking, eh?"

"Wait!" She resisted. "Who's he gonna stay with?"

Cal stopped pushing. He had actually been thinking about it a lot. He hadn't been able to get Loker off his mind. The poor kid had spent the week in a psych ward on suicide watch. Cal had visited him every day. Loker was fooling the nurses, but not the deception expert. Cal knew he was still very suicidal.

"Well he can't stay with me. He hates me."

Lightman was joking, but Torres could see the truth behind it. "He doesn't hate you. You're intimidating. And sometimes unnecessarily cruel."

"Yeah," They stood awkwardly in the doorway as Foster walked by.

She looked at them suspiciously. "What are you doing now?"

"Trying to figure out who Loker should stay with." Cal told her.

Gillian looked surprised. "Oh..." She turned her gaze to Torres. "Can he stay with you?"

Torres knew the surprise must have shown on her face. "Uh..." She struggled to find words. "Why me?

"He knows you best. Of all the people he works with, you're around him most of the time." Gillian paused. "You're also the one who found him." She added.

"He probably hates me for stopping him."

"I wouldn't count on that, love." Lightman said. "Come on, take one for the team."

Torres sighed. It was a lot of responsibility. What if he did something stupid? But it was Loker, and he had no one else. "Fine." She agreed.

"Great, let's go pick up our walking pharmacy, shall we? Gill, you stay here and mind the place."

Lightman and Torres took separate vehicles and arrived at the hospital parking lot. The whole drive, Torres had been thinking about letting Loker stay with her. "What is he even going to wear? I don't have any clothes that would fit him." She asked Lightman.

He smiled and popped open his trunk. "It's all here."

"You raided his car!" Torres accused. There in the trunk lay all of Loker's possessions. His clothes, books; everything that had been in the car he was living out of.

"How else was I supposed to get his stuff? I wasn't about to buy a lot of new things." Cal justified.

Torres laughed. "He's gonna be pissed."

Lightman grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't care."

Cal was trying to maintain a nonchalant attitude, but inside he felt nervous. Maybe he should have insisted that Loker stay with him. But at the same time, he was much more comfortable with Torres. He cared much more than he was letting on. What Torres didn't know was that along with Loker's clothes, he had thrown in some of his old shirts as well.

He struggled with the thought that part of this was his fault. He'd been an awful boss and an even worse mentor. And he was a deception expert! He should have seen the signs.

Loker was happy. Well, as happy as he could get. He was still miserable, but he had convinced the psych ward staff that he was doing better. He would be going home today. Home. more like my car. He thought. It was all right though. He wouldn't be there for long. He would find a new way to end his life. He had been thinking about it, obsessing over it the whole week.

"Congratulations Mr. Loker." A nurse said with a smile as she handed him his street clothes to change into.

He smiled politely back, but the smile faded as he saw Lightman and Torres standing outside, waiting for him. He should have known they wouldn't leave him alone.

Minutes later, he exited the locked ward. Torres gave him a wide smile and hugged him. "Loker, I'm glad you're okay."

He awkwardly hugged her back. "Yeah, me too. What are you guys doing here?"

"I think you can guess." Lightman told him.

"Really? Come on guys, I don't need a babysitter."

"I don't wanna take that chance."

Loker looked at his boss, frustrated. "So, which one of you is gonna camp out in my car with me?"

"Actually..." Torres suddenly looked very nervous. "You'll be staying with me."

Loker blinked, a bit stunned. "what?"

"Yep, you heard the lady. Let's go!" Lightman said in a cheery tone.

Lightman pulled up outside Ria's house.

"You're really gonna make me stay here?" Loker asked from the passenger seat.

"Oi, it's not so bad. You're rooming with a beautiful woman. I wouldn't be complaining."

They got out of the car and Lightman popped his trunk open. Loker stared in surprise. He hadn't even thought about his things. But apparently Lightman had it all covered. "You broke into my car."

Cal chuckled. "It wasn't locked. Your fault. You're welcome."

Torres nervously held the door open as the men carried Loker's stuff in. "You can set it on the couch there." She said.

"I'll give you two hours to get settled in, but I need the two of you back to work as soon as possible. Got it?" Lightman told them.

Loker felt very out of place once Lightman left. "So, uh, is it alright if I shower?" He asked awkwardly.

"Sure. Just a minute." Torres left the room and quickly returned, carrying her razors. It's all yours. There are clean towels hanging up. I don't have any...guy stuff though."

"You didn't have to take the razors out. And it's fine, Lightman found all my shower stuff anyway." He held up a bag.

"Actually, Loker, I feel like I did need to take the razors out." She got close to him and leaned in. "I can't go through that again, Eli. I can't." He could tell how sincere she was. "You almost died..." She looked like she was about to cry.

He impulsively pulled her into a hug. Wow. She was warm. And her hair smelled like strawberries.

Ria's heart raced as Loker hugged her. His long arms wrapped around her waist, and her head fit snugly against his chest. It was so comforting to hear his heart beating.

She expected it to be awkward, but it wasn't. They simply clung to each other for comfort. She dried her tears and pulled away. "Thanks" She sniffed. "Now go shower, you smell." She joked.

He grinned and left the room.

Ria sunk down into the couch. What had she gotten herself into?

Sorry guys, I know it's short. I'll try to do a longer chapter next time :) As always, thanks for the reviews! You're awesome. (Also, still figuring out how to use this site, so I'm sorry if anyone has tried to PM me and I haven't answered.