"You can't trust her. It's a trap." Rick spat, shaking his head.
"Has it ever occurred to you that she wants to kill you? I mean, you are sleeping with her husband, and her son has clearly grown attached to you." Rick asked, trying to not let the concern he felt creep into his voice.
"Why Colonel, I didn't realize that you cared." Lise said sarcastically.
Rick shifted his weight on his feet, a cloud rolling over his face before he growled in a low voice "If something happened to you…I don't want to see Cooper or Jake go through that. Ever. You have been great for them both, and Cooper deserves that happiness. I've never seen a man endure so much to finally achieve it. He's my friend, and I don't want to see him hollowed out with grief over losing you, and the effect it would have on Jake." He looked down at the floor, clearly disturbed that he'd said this much, and maybe a little angry that she could draw it out of him to begin with.
A smirk twisted Rick's expression.
Lise smiled, but didn't say anything.
Lise and Rick looked towards the bed in the center of the room, where Cooper sat grinning, squinting through narrowed eyes clearly pained by the antiseptic fluorescent lights humming overhead.
Rick's face asked the question that remained locked behind his lips. "Yes, Old Man. I think Nick was scared to death of you while you were cooking the bacon at the party at Mack and Kat's house. Does that answer your question?" Cooper said quietly.
Rick let out a chuckle and nodded.
Lise stepped to the opposite side of Cooper's bed, and quietly took his left hand into hers. She found herself unable to put into words all the feelings she had for this man, but realized when his eyes met hers that she didn't have to, because she had said it all without saying a word.
Lise froze, trying to decide what to do next. "Don't bother with the elevator," Teresa said, anticipating one course of action. "It will not work again until I want it to." She stepped out of the darkness, into the light spilling out from the open elevator door.
Lise stood quietly, weighing the truth of these words, but not knowing why they had been spoken in the first place, before deciding to let Teresa keep talking without any interruption.
"You really are quite beautiful. Certainly not a fashion model, or the normal ideal of beauty, but you are beautiful." Teresa said while walking around Lise, who was standing quietly. "I can certainly see what my husband sees in you." She said, pausing while looking at Lise's backside.
Teresa's face clouded as anger filled her eyes, and her mouth contorted into a snarl. "Evan. He didn't have to die. I had already guaranteed his safety, and Jake's. But then Cooper ran, and took them with him. And then Rick showed up, and spoiled the raid. You don't know the whole story. You only know what happened. I miss him. I miss all of them." Both women were silent for a few moments.
Lise silently analyzed what she had just heard, trying to figure out if she believed any of it, and if she could afford to pretend that she could afford to not try to learn more.
Lise paused, silently thankful for the friendship this man had with Cooper. Rick couldn't ignore the concern she was concealing with her smile and said "Seriously, Lise. You look dead on your feet, and this is no place to get any rest, now is it, Agent Roy?" The agent, sitting quietly in a chair in the other corner nodded slightly and said, "No Colonel, it is not." Although Roy was still recovering from his wounds, and not yet cleared to return to duty, he insisted on spending as much time in Cooper's room as possible as soon as he was able to walk.