"Do you have a second to talk?"

Though Link's message seemed innocent enough, Donovan knew what he headed into and so on his way to the door, grabbed his gun case. When he entered Link's apartment, Link sat perched on the edge of the couch, one knee bouncing with nerves.

"There's pizza," Link said, gesturing to the box on the coffee table. It was a beforehand apology and Donovan accepted it, sitting in one of the chairs before the coffee table.

Link sprung to his feet and began to pace as Donovan took out a slice of pizza and ate. He didn't need to ask Link why he was there or what Link wanted to talk about. He knew.

He knew just like he knew that he would not need to say anything for the next twenty minutes as Link rambled. Link was the type of person who needed a presence in the room so he could talk, but rarely needed that presence to even respond.

"Okay, so I like Maddie," Link started. "I mean how could I not, she's cute. Her eyes are really pretty. Her laugh is like bubbles."

Donovan knew that made no sense but had no intention of telling Link that. He was only acting as a presence after all.

"I want things to go well, but this is my first time dating. What if I screw it up. Or make an idiot of myself and she realizes exactly how completely incompetent I am and goes after someone else."

Again Donovan kept his silence. It was an unlikely outcome seeing as Maddie had already seen how clueless Link could be and was still interested.

As he talked, Link wandered about the apartment, sometimes hardly breathing between sentences. Only half-listening, Donovan went to work on his gun, assembling and disassembling it. The rhythm was natural and quick, his fingers knowing what to do without him having to think about it.

At the end of half an hour, Link flopped onto the couch, spent, the pizza was cold, and Donovan had lost count of how many times he'd taken apart the gun.

"So what do you think?" Link asked.

Donovan set down the dissembled pieces and met Link's gaze. "I think you're scared and that's natural for a first relationship. I think that the more you let Maddie in the more she will see the loyal and caring person you are and never be able to let you go."

Link ducked his head, bashful under the high praise. "Thanks."

A knock on the door cut into the friendly moment. Donovan raised his eyebrow, questioning. Link shook his head, as if to say he wasn't expecting anyone. Another knock came and Donovan motioned for the door.

"It's your apartment, not mine," he said.

Uncertain, Link crossed to the door, opened it and froze in surprise.

"Carter?!"

Donovan straightened at the name, his mind spinning to a million different reasons why she would be there. The corner of his mind that held his jealousy wondered why she hadn't tried his apartment. The counter argument to this was even if she did, he wouldn't have known because he hadn't been in it. Before he could get caught in a spiral of 'what ifs', he heard her voice.

"You have a minute to talk?"

With that one response, he knew that it wasn't him she'd looked for and he squashed the disappointment that the realization brought.

"Sure," Link said. "Come in."

Carter walked into an apartment as if unsure that she really should be there. Which renewed Donovan's curiosity of why she was. She gave the place a once-over, neither showing envy or admiration at the large and well-furnished apartment.

"It looks like the child support checks are still coming in," she said.

Link flinched and before Donovan could snap at Carter, she let out a weary sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't come here to insult you. I really didn't."

Link shrugged as if the comment hadn't affected him, but Donovan still felt like cutting Carter down, knowing that anything involving Link's father was sensitive. But as Carter turned her attention to the living room, Donovan reigned in his emotions. Something about her posture told him that she didn't need a rebuke at the moment, but a helping hand.

"Is your mother here?" Carter asked Link.

Link shook his head. "She's at the office," he said. "Big court case. I have no idea when she will be home. It's usually never before three."

Carter nodded. Link rubbed his neck, looking at her. Donovan knew Link felt hopelessly lost. Having a girl turn up at his apartment was a first. Having that girl there to talk with him would be completely baffling to him.

"Uh...do you want to sit down or something?" he asked.

"Sure," she said.

When she said it, she meet Link's eyes, telling Donovan that again she wasn't here to talk to him.

"I can leave," he said, as they joined him.

Carter shook her head.

"No," she said. "It's fine."

Donovan leaned back in his chair, watching Carter. He didn't understand why he thought it, but she looked small as if knocked down a peg or two. She took a deep breath, but when she released it, it didn't seem to help in anyway. She curled her hands into fists and Donovan noticed the tension in her arms and body. It struck him for the first time that Carter Owens didn't know what to say. It unnerved him.

"Carter," Link said, "what's going on?"

Carter cracked her knuckles, glancing between them, unable to hold their gazes for longer than a second. Donovan shook his head at Link's quiet plea for understanding. Like Link needed a presence to voice his thoughts, Donovan had the feeling that Carter needed silence to voice hers.

When Carter reached for Donovan's gun, Donovan jerked forward, but froze when he saw the speed in which Carter assembled the weapon. It felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. It was amazing. He looked to Carter, bits of hair falling in front of her face, but that didn't hinder her speed and accuracy in the slightest.

The gun assembled, Carter set it down and pulled away.

"Sorry," she said.

Link stared at her with wide-eyes while Donovan betrayed his surprise with a single raised eyebrow. Carter shifted back on the couch, rubbing her hands on her pants. Though the gesture was nervous, Donovan could tell that a bit of her unease had been released by assembling the gun. The action was calming to her.

They had that in common.

"I don't know where to begin," Carter said.

"The reason why you're here would be a good place," Donovan said, wanting to help her.

She met both sets of eyes.

"I came...because I needed a friend," she said.

She let out a tired sigh and rubbed her face. Donovan wondered how many times Carter had admitted that and figured it was a low number, if at all.

"I guess I should just come out and say it," she said.

She studied her hands for a moment, then looked up. In her eyes, Donovan could see a lost, helplessness. They were emotions he never would have connected with Carter and something in his chest stirred at the sight.

"I don't know how much of this you know," she said. She gestured to Donovan. "Or how much you have put together, but my mom left when I was fourteen."

"What happened?" Link blurted out.

Donovan had to restrain his urge to kick Link in the shin for his lack of tact. But Carter didn't seem to care.

"One night she decided that being a mother was no longer what she wanted to do. So she left. In a taxi," she said, her voice emotionless.

Her gaze flickered to Donovan as if she were trying to see if he believed the passivity of her expression. He didn't. Link leaned forward on his knees.

"She just left out of the blue?" he asked.

Carter nodded.

"I was a surprise baby."

The story rushed forward like she couldn't stop it and Donovan wondered if she'd ever told it before this point. He had a feeling she hadn't. It meant this story had lived like a boulder in her chest for a long time, weighing her down.

"Second year of college my mother got pregnant. They got married. My father went into the military and became a Navy Seal. My mother left college and passed up job opportunities to raise me."

Carter stared unseeing at the spotless carpet. Donovan wondered what sad memories were running through her head.

"When I was 14, she got offered a position she said couldn't pass up. So she took it. Left my father alone with me. In the four years since, we haven't seen her. Not once. Until yesterday, when she showed up at our apartment, unannounced. I told her to leave."

Carter's shoulders relaxed as if bottling up her past had weighed them down. With a sigh, she raised her head. Link stared at her with a hundred questions darting through his eyes. When she turned to Donovan, he held her gaze. He knew most of this and also knew the strength it had taken to share it. It was a type of strength that only made him admire her more.

The day's interactions clicked into place and on the tail end was a realization as to why she was here.

"You saw her again today," he said. "In the office."

Carter nodded.

"She wanted to have lunch and talk. She walked into my school and my life as if it was the simplest thing in the world and nothing had changed in the last four years. I told her to leave my dad and me alone."

Carter buried her face in her hands. The hunch of her shoulders spoke of a weariness that came not from physical tiredness but emotional exhaustion. Donovan felt sympathy for this girl who lived so much of her life alone. A loneliness he himself felt countless times.

"Is that what you really want?" Donovan asked, wanting her to know she wasn't completely alone.

"I don't know. I don't know what I want," she said, playing with her thumb nail.

"Why did you come here?"

Her gaze jumped to Link.

"Honestly..." She took in a breath. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

The words hung in the air between them.

"As far as I can tell, you have gone through something similar," she said. "I wanted to know what you did when you first met your father?"

Pain spiked Link's features and he shifted, his eyes dropping away from her. Years of memories walking Link through his pain and heartache darted through Donovan's mind. If anyone were to understand what she was going through, it was Link.

"I understand if it's too difficult to talk about," she said.

Link tossed his glasses onto the table and ran a hand through his hair. In those simple actions, Donovan saw the boy who had grown through his trials, not the rumpled, awkward kid that he let the world see.

"I almost hit him," he said.

Carter raised an eyebrow. Without his glasses the similarities between his father and him were clear to see. Carter had dropped her confident facade and in return Link had done the same. Donovan felt proud to know him, to see how he could be strong for someone else.

Link grinned at Carter's surprise, the sight wiping away his pained look.

"A Secret Service agent stopped me before I could throw a punch," he said. "I didn't say anything to him that first time. He was so cold I didn't know what to say."

Donovan remembered that day, new to the job and trapped in a situation that couldn't have been more emotionally charged and uncomfortable.

"How long was it before you saw him again?" Carter asked.

"A few weeks. My mother convinced me that I should at least talk to him. I did. Eventually, we got past everything. Well, almost everything, but it took a really long time. It's still not ideal. I only see him every few months. If that."

Carter nodded slowly.

"You forgave him?"

A wry smile came to Link's face.

"Not completely," he said. "What he did was terrible. But for the most part I wanted to know him. I was twelve, I wanted a father." He let out a low chuckle. "In some way, I still do. Part of a father is better than none."

Carter rested back on the couch.

"Why did your mother show up now?" Link asked. "After four years?"

Carter rubbed her face and Donovan could see her thoughts flying around her brain.

"I don't know. We were doing fine without her. I just want her out of our lives."

The last sentence came out as a slight growl, telling Donovan how deep the pain of abandonment had gone for her.

"You won't talk to her at all?" Link asked.

Carter lowered her hands.

"Why should I?" she said, angrily. "What has she ever done except abandon me? I owe her nothing and want nothing from her!" Carter's attention fell to her hands."I just don't know what to do. This is a rare thing for me."

"I imagine so," Donovan said, giving a small chuckle, wishing to pull her out of the darkness.

The beginning of a grin tugged at Carter's mouth, showing Donovan it had worked. But the moment faded and her face fell.

"Do you plan to shut your mother out until she leaves?" Donovan asked.

"Yes...maybe..." She shrugged. "There is nothing she could say that would change anything. The fact is she left; She picked her career over me."

"That is true," Link said. "But if you don't see her, you don't get to say what you've wanted to."

Carter scowled.

"I don't have anything to say to her," she said.

Link raised one contradictory eyebrow and Donovan knew they both saw that as a lie. She sighed.

"Of course I have things to say to her but it will make no difference."

"Then she will leave," Donovan said, "and all the things you have wanted to tell her will be left trapped in your head."

It had taken a long time for Link to air his grievances against his father, but every time he did, Donovan saw how it lightened the burden in him.

"Yes, but I'd have to see her again to tell her those things. Therein lies the problem. I don't want to see her. I never wanted to see her after she left."

Donovan tilted his head, studying her, seeing the lie. A girl of fourteen can't help but miss her mother and want her back.

"That's not true," he said.

Carter stood and paced, nervous energy taking control.

"Of course it's not true," she said. "But I was fourteen. I forced myself to stop running to the door at the sound of a car. I got over it. I moved on with my life."

Crossing his arms, Donovan watched her pace, letting himself show his skepticism, knowing Carter would see it.

"What?" she said, scowling at him.

"Carter," he responded, "you say you have moved on, yet you push everyone away." He raised a hand, stopping her arguments. "You became an outcast at school for this reason. You fear getting close to people because you fear being abandoned again. You use your intellect and physical force to keep everyone else at a distance. "

She stared at him, her hands curled into fists. His point already proven.

"Deny it, but it's the truth. You tried to force us away."

For a tense moment, she stared at Donovan. He stared back. Finally, she broke from his gaze and he saw the shift in her body as her indignation left her.

"Why did either of you ever decide to be my friend?" she asked, quietly.

"You'll have to ask him that," Donovan said, nodding at Link.

Their friendship helped her now, he didn't want her to know that his motives for befriending her were purely professional. Link on the other hand was genuine about wanting to befriend her since the beginning.

Link gave Carter a lopsided smile and shrugged.

"I liked you," he said. "You were smart and didn't like Mason. Having to go to school with my half brother wasn't going to be easy. Having someone who didn't fawn over him felt like it could be more bearable." He gave a warm chuckle. "Besides, you made observations like Donovan and I found that oddly comforting."

Carter smiled and Donovan knew that even with how much Carter fought against their friendship, she'd full accepted it now.

"I'm glad you didn't give up easily," she said.

She moved back to the couch and sank onto it. A comfortable silence settled around them.

"So, will you talk to your mother?" Donovan asked, breaking the silence.

She looked to the far wall, her eyes glazed.

"I don't know. And I don't want to decide now. What I do want now is some of that pizza."

"Go ahead, but it's cold," Link said, gesturing to the pizza box.

Carter flipped the lid open and grabbed a slice. She gave the gun a nod.

"How fast can you put that together?" she asked.

Donovan smiled and shifted towards the gun, quickly disassembling it, happy for an opportunity to show off.

**********

A few hours later, after friendly conversations had made the reason for Carter's visit mostly forgotten and the pizza box sat empty, Carter stood. The city lights outside the windows had slowly blinked off, leaving only the stars and the street lights. She glanced at her phone and flinched.

"I didn't realize how late it was," she said.

Link sat up, grimacing as he stretched out his arms.

"You want to crash here on the couch?" he asked. "Or Donovan has an extra room you can use."

She looked at Donovan. He focused on getting feeling back into his legs so she wouldn't detect how he felt about her sleeping in his spare room. The problem was he didn't know how he felt. It felt like letting her into a part of his life that few were a part of and he didn't know if he wanted that even as he knew he shouldn't want it.

"You must make a better income more than I thought to afford a place in this building," she said.

"So, are you staying?" Donovan asked, ignoring her comment, needing to have the answer before his mind ran down paths he couldn't return from. Like how she could be a bigger part of his life.

"As much fun as that sounds," she said, "I don't want Captain breaking down your door at four in the morning looking for me. I'll go home."

Donovan told himself the twinge in his stomach was from relief and not disappointment.

"You sure?" Link said, cautiously. "It's really late."

"Link, do you honestly believe a mugger would get the better of me?" she asked, laughing.

Link gave her a smile that turned into a yawn.

"True," he said.

She shrugged and picked up her satchel. "I'll get an Uber home."

Carter moved to the front door, pulled it open and paused. She turned back to face Link and Donovan. Though she was far from finding a solution on how to deal with her mother, she looked more peaceful than when she'd first arrived.

"Uh...thanks for letting me talk." She shifted. "Friends aren't something I'm used to. I appreciate you not slamming the door in my face."

Link chuckled as Donovan gave a single nod, wanting to say how they would always be there for her, but knew he couldn't lie to her.

"Of course," Link said. "See you tomorrow."

The door clicked shut and Carter's footsteps faded away. Link looked to Donovan.

"How'd I do?" he asked.

Donovan smiled. "Perfect. You're a good friend."

Grabbing his glasses from the coffee table, Link let out a breath.

"Good, for a second there I panicked really hard. I had no idea what to say."

"You did a good job."

Pleased with himself and relieved, Link sauntered away to his room. Donovan put his gun back in its case and left, locking the door behind him.

In the hallway, he looked to the elevator and tried to convince himself that it was better for Carter to remain a friend.

**********************************************************************

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