"In your own time, Temple," Becker growled in his ear. Connor's hand was wrapped around the door handle, but he didn't open it. He would never admit it to his friends, but he was slightly scared of Lauren. He was more scared of Becker of course, but Lauren came a very close second.

"Connor," Jess said more gently, giving Becker a fixed glare. "We're going to have to go in sometime,"

"You're right," Connor gulped and opened the door to Conference Room A. Lauren sat perched on the corner of her desk, eating a banana.

Jess paled slightly at the sight of the fruit, but recovered her composure quickly.

"Welcome!" Lauren swallowed a mouthful and tossed the banana peel over her shoulder. It landed with a soft plop on the lid of her laptop. If she cared, she didn't show it. "Isn't this a beautiful morning?" She exclaimed, closing her eyes and gestured with her arms to the pouring rain through the window.

"Yeah, wonderful." Connor mumbled and noticed Lester outside. The man was holding a briefcase over his head (probably trying to keep his Italian suit dry) and wearing a scowl on his face. Lester one handedly fumbling for his keys which had somehow managed to fall in a mud puddle. Lauren shut the blinds and opened her eyes.

"Today, we will be working on team cooperation in partners!" she said in a chipper voice.

Becker hoped he wasn't with Matt, seeing as some times they didn't get along. A lot of times. Most times.

Abby bit her tongue to keep from screaming. If she was stuck with Lauren again...

Connor on the other hand was praying (even though he wasn't at all religious) that Becker wasn't his partner. What ever they would be doing, it would result in pain.

Matt didn't care who he was paired up with. He was team leader after all he should be able to work with everyone.

Jess was content with anyone as her partner, even Lauren, but a little part of her hoped she would be paired with Becker...She blushed and turned to face the wall away from her team mates.

"What are we doing today?" Jess asked bravely.

Lauren clapped her hands excitedly and was literally shaking with excitement even though she wasn't the one that needed to participate in the activities.

"Escape the blank," she exclaimed, using her hands to make an arc over her head.

"Blank?" Matt furrowed his brow in confusion.

"'Escape the' either room, chair, or closet." Lauren beamed and snatched a file off of her desk. She flipped to the first page. "Your superior told me your job dealt with those kinds of extreme situations. Don'y worry, I understand. My last group dealt with criminals."

"Criminals?" Connor whispered to Abby whom shrugged.

Lauren withdrew some thick rope.

"Let's change up the pairs today," She bounced over to the team, her smile blinding them. "Jess, you and Connor will be both in chairs, tied together, in Conference Room B," Lauren spun on her heels to face Matt whom reflexively took a step back.

"Matt, you and Becker will be locked in Conference Room C,"

The two exchanged cold looks. Lauren ignored them and hopped towards Abby happily.

The ex-zoologist knew what was coming. She was going to be locked in a closet with Lauren for a day. An experience that would probably scar her for life. It was times like these that made Abby miss the cretaceous. Just her and Connor.

"Abby, I wish I could accompany you in this task, but I'm claustrophobic." Lauren nodded and looked into the distance before returning her attention back to Abby. "Very claustrophobic. So you will have to accomplish escaping from The Closet single handedly." She dramatically raised a fist.

"Okay," Abby responded a little too quickly. She was trying hard not to smile triumphantly.

"Once you guys get out, come back here to this exact spot where I will be waiting. Then you're free for the day."

Connor couldn't help but grin at the thought of leaving therapy early.

Lauren looked almost sorrowful as she headed towards the door.

"Follow me, class."

Connor winced as Lauren tightened the knot for about the third time. He could feel the rope cutting into his wrists.

"Alrighty then," Lauren jumped back to standing position, her hands on her hips. "Good luck!" she gave them a thumbs up they couldn't return and ran off, leaving Jess and Connor bound by the wrists and ankles. They were both in classic, wooden chairs back to back. It was supposed to resemble some sort of hostage scenario you would see in movies.

Jess tried to move her hands but they were tied to tightly with Connor's.

"Any clue how we're going to get out?" Connor asked wearily, his genius brain searching for a solution. He had played these kinds of games online before, but they were much easier as games.

"Unless you have a knife on you, not really." Jess shifted uncomfortably in the wooden chair pulling Connor backwards. "Sorry," she apologized meekly.

Connor sighed.

"It's alright." He tried wriggling out but it only caused a severe rope burn. "She must have been a girl scout or something. These knots-" Connor strained to escape. "-are impossible," He leaned back in defeat.

Jess laughed and glanced around the conference room. Then she saw the paper clip. It was a shiny small dot on the floor, only a few feet away from them. Taunting her.

"Connor, look." She nodded towards the gleaming tool that would save them.

"Where?"

"To your left...um, your other left,"

"What? That paper clip?"

"Yes!" Jess exclaimed in exasperation.

"That's for picking locks, Jess."

"If we tried, we could saw through this rope," She was determined to get that paper clip. "Come on, Connor, so we can get the rest of the day off. Hop!"

Connor looked doubtfully at the paperclip. It was one of the little ones too. Reluctantly he pushed his feet hard off the ground and they slowly hopped towards the paperclip. Very slowly considering they usually got their timing wrong and tilt to one side too far for Jess's comfort. After a series of shrieks and yelps they were finally there.

"Okay, one of us will have to lean down to get it," Connor said. Jess bit her lip and nodded in agreement.

They both bent down at the same time.

Lester looked up from the document he was signing. He swore he heard...screaming? He massaged his temple and took an aspirin. The overdose of paperwork was getting to his mind, he mused in his mind as he signed his name.

With out the use of their hands they ended up landing on the side of their faces. Connor groaned as his cheek made contact with the hard, cold floor. Jess merely squeaked and winced at the thought of the bruise that was forming.

"Connor!"

"Jess!"

They both shouted out in frustration at each other, the chair, and Lauren.

Connor shook his head, or tried to. "Let's just get the paper clip," he said, the piece of metal inches away from his eye. "We have to spin around to get a hold of it,"

They flailed their legs pathetically and spun in a circle on the floor. Their cheeks scraped on the dirty floor and Jess couldn't help but wonder how many germs were on that floor. She managed to get a hold of the paper clip before Connor and worked as fast as she could with her hands tied up.

"C'mon, Jess. The faster we do this, the faster we're home free," Connor encouraged her.

Jess filed away with the little paper clip, and within twenty minutes, they were free. Or at least their arms were...

"See you boys later," Lauren called out cheerfully and slammed the door.

Matt immediately surveyed their surroundings. An even number of chairs surrounding two conference tables. A white board and projector. Nothing of real use.

"Any idea how we're going to get out?" Becker asked.

"Not yet," Matt replied and walked around the room. He looked out the window and wondered if they could survive a two story fall. Probably, but broken bones wouldn't do their job any good. Besides, the weather wasn't looking too good.

Becker tried the door handle and thought about picking the lock. He was a soldier, not a bank robber and he was pretty sure Matt wouldn't know how to considering the man cultivated plants as a hobby.

"Do you have any ideas?" Matt inquired.

"You're team leader. Isn't coming up with ideas natural to you?" Becker retorted.

"I was just asking for an opinion, Becker," Matt put his ear to the door and knocked on it.

"Are you hoping she would be stupid enough to let us out?"

"No negativity, Becker and that was not what I was aiming for. The wood isn't too thick. We can break it open." Matt slammed his shoulder against the door and grimaced slightly at the contact. It made a hollow sound but didn't open. He continued for another ten minutes.

Becker had a be-amused expression on his face as he watched his superior smash himself against a door. Out of all days to forget his mobile at home. He switched positions with Matt and gave it a go for another ten minutes before letting Matt take it on again.

"A little help would be nice." The team leader said after concluding it was useless.

"This is her idea of team cooperation. Slamming into a door together." Scowling Becker walked over to Matt. Together they shouldered the door for a good fifteen minutes until it finally swung open.

Matt raised an eyebrow at Becker.

"Well the team cooperation thing did work." He said.

"So it did,"

They both cracked small smiles and headed towards the room one over.

Lauren pranced to one of the storage closets down the hall. She opened the door and gestured for Abby to step in. After she entered the room, Lauren shut the door and locked it, singing a happy song. After the footsteps dimmed Abby tried the door knob.

At least the woman knew how to lock a door.

Abby tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and got to work processing what she could use. Lester wouldn't be too happy if she damaged anything, so kicking open the door was not an option. Maybe if she's desperate, but she had eight hours to get out and it was a storage closet. Easy.

The closet she was in only contained a few items. Cleaning supplies on a wooden shelf, a blue bucket, a mop, and a broom with a dustpan to accompany it.

She sat down on the bucket and sighed in frustration. Abby tried looking past these simple objects for some way she could get out. Something she picked up from being in the cretaceous for a year.

After staring intensely at the objects for twenty minutes before she gave up. Abby concluded there wasn't a possible way could she use Febreze to help aid her escape.

She ran her hand through her wavy, blond hair and looked up. That's when she spotted it. How the hell did she miss something that was staring her in the face?

Abby got up and dragged the bucket until it was underneath the ventilation shaft. The next part of the plan came easily, so easily it made her grin. Abby snatched the broom from it's leaning position and jabbed it upwards. The vent lid came off with a pop.

She replaced the broom back to it's original place before hopping back on the bucket. Abby stood on her tip toes and jumped, her arms grasping for something to hold on to. Soon enough, she was in.

Crawling through the dusty shafts wasn't exactly what she called 'fun'. Abby wondered how Danny got anything out of it.

Then she saw the vent leading to Conference Room B. She had time to spare.

Connor and Jess were tied to a chair, on their side, spinning? Rolling her eyes, Abby crawled forwards until she made it to Conference Room C. Becker and Matt were arguing as usual. Nothing strange about that. Now she had to find her way to Conference Room A.

It would make sense to be near the other Conference Rooms, but she couldn't find it. All of the corners in the ventilation shafts looked the same. It took another fifteen minutes of crawling to locate the room where Lauren was. She had simply followed the high, off pitched singing.

"Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. Everything that's wonderful is sure to come your way-"

"Wow," Lauren looked up from her watch in amazement. "Forty seven minutes. That's amazing, it's not even lunch yet,"

Connor high-fived Jess and they exchanged grins. He was about to say something but was cut off by the sound of metal. Suddenly Abby dropped down beside them...from the ceiling.

He yelped and jumped back as she smiled sweetly at him.

"Abby!" Lauren pulled her into a crushing hug. "The three of you..." The therapist was interrupted by the door swinging open and Becker and Matt entering, simultaneously rubbing their shoulders.

"All of you!" She put a hand to her chest and smiled proudly like a mother that was presented with macaroni art. "I don't know why Mr. Lester thought you guys needed to bond. It took less than an hour for all of you to escape and come here. That's a record time!" she enthused.

"We had motivation," Abby said.

Lauren nodded understandingly. "Motivation. Now that's a good thing to have. Always be positive, not negative." She shot a glare at Becker. "Think of the glass half full, not half empty! Negativity will eat up your soul and we can't have that happening. No, no, no. There seems to be at least one negative person everywhere I go." Lauren shook her head disappointedly. "Oh, Leroy."

Connor was the only one to respond to Lauren's little rant with a "Er, alright."

"I know I said you guys could go once you got out, but I wasn't expecting all of you to escape so fast. We practically have a whole day left for fun! If you guys want to stay we can-"

"I have a stock meeting to get too," Becker said and edged towards the open door.

"My laptop needs some repair work," Connor darted towards the exit and tried to casually drag Becker out into the hall.

"There are animals in the menagerie to feed," Abby immediately followed him.

"One of my plants are going to flower," Matt walked briskly after Abby.

"There are some glitches on the computer I need to take care of," Jess dashed away before Lauren could say anything.

She nearly crashing into Matt's shoulder as she burst out of the room. The team had been waiting for her along the sides of the corridors, out of sight from their lunatic therapist. Luckily, Jess had shut the door when she barreled out, or else Lauren would have seen the team walking together towards the main operations room. No where near the menagerie or labs.

"Stock meeting? Since when did you go to stock meetings?" Connor snickered, amused at the thought of the captain cooped up in one of those boring meetings Lester went to every other day.

"Hardly. I was just testing if she noticed that all three conference rooms were being 'used', therefore no meetings could be held."

"Oh," Jess smiled in realization. "Wow,"

"What if -in a world where Lauren wasn't so Lauren- she managed to catch you?" Connor cocked his head slightly as they walked. A smile lingered on his face.

Becker looked at the geek as though the answer were obvious. "Then I would have said 'Did I say stock meeting? Sorry, that's for tomorrow. I meant I had inventory to do,'" He smirked as Connor shared a laugh with Abby and Jess.

Matt just shook his head like they were a bunch of kids. One session down, another avoided, seven more to go. He was beginning to hate Wednesdays.

Carlough's amazing Lauren, and a little reference to her NCIS story Adventures in Therapy.