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CHAPTER 10

System #1

By the time Agent Reyes arrived, Gibson Praise had been resisting the urge to nervously pace the X-files office for too long.

She seemed awfully breathless--oh, a dream. She'd been having the dreams, too . . .

"Gibson?" she asked cautiously.

"Agent Reyes," Gibson acknowledged from his chair right under the I WANT TO BELIEVE poster.

"He's still not here, is he?"

"No. He hasn't called or anything."

Gibson "heard" her think a colorful word he wouldn't repeat.

*A wonderful time for John to go missing . . .* she bitterly added.

"Well," she said aloud, "We'll give him a little more time, for good measure. Here," she pulled something out of a paper grocery bag, "I got us some dinner. You must be starved."

She set a neatly wrapped sub sandwich on the desk before him, before taking her own out of the bag and eating it. Gibson carefully unwrapped his sandwich, wondering what it was . . .

*I hope he likes turkey and avacado . . .* he heard her mind wander for a moment.

"Don't worry. I do," Gibson mumbled just before he took his first bite.

"What was that?"

Gibson swallowed his food.

"I said I do. I like turkey and avacado. It's my favorite."

"Oh," she said, giving Gibson an odd look as he took another bite.

She made a little shrug for herself. *With all I've seen lately, a psychic boy suddenly doesn't seem so strange,* she muttered inwardly.

Behind his sandwich, Gibson hid a bitter smile.

*Good,* he thought. *We understand each other. Now, maybe something can be done.*

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Next chapter's coming soon . . . In the meantime, please remember to review! Thanx! :)