Greenhouse. April tucks additional blankets around Jake and says that he's better off at home than in the med center. It's warmer. Because they keep the home fires burning. Mom brings Jake a mug of something and asks about his injuries. The cut on his head isn't very deep, and neither leg is broken; he just has hypothermia. It will take a few hours for him to stabilize. Jake groans, and Dad asks for a minute alone. April leaves. Dad sits down next to Jake. Shuddering, Jake looks over at his dad and begs him to forget what he told him. "Afraid I can't do that," says Dad, leaning close to his son. "I've seen a lot of things in my time, Jake. I've been to war. I know what war can do, I know what men can do -- terrible, terrible things. I know what I did. You can talk to me." Jake sort of sobs and ducks his head into the blankets, crying gently. Dad strokes his head, and shushes him while his own face breaks tragically. He kisses the top of Jake's head, his eyes full of tears. "When you're ready, son," he whispers brokenly. "When you're ready." Jake sits there, shaking and crying and cold-swollen as Dad leaves the room.
Mimi and Stanley step out into the bright light from the darkness of the medical center. Stanley's on crutches. Mimi looks around and half-laughs in delight. "You okay?" Stanley asks, surprised that Mimi's happy about anything Jericho-related. "Yeah," she says, and then looks at him in concern and asks about his sprain. I'd be more concerned about those patches of white on his face -- did he get frostbite? In a temperature where you can't even see their breaths? Stanley confesses that, for a while there, he didn't think he would ever feel anything again. Mimi tells him that when she was on the road, there was a moment when she didn't think she was going to make it. She stopped for a rest and didn't even want to move. "But you did -- you did make it. And I knew you would," Stanley tells her. Mimi nods, tearing up. Stanley kisses her loudly on the cheek. Mimi looks embarrassed. She puts a finger up to his mouth and notes that his lips are still cold. "Yeah," Stanley muses, "maybe you can warm them." He says it in this totally goofy, nerdy, overly pronounced tone. Mimi laughs, puts her hand on his face, and tells him gently that it's the worst line she's ever heard. Stanley knows: "I've got others." "Shut up," Mimi tells him. "Okay," Stanley agrees, gamely. He and Mimi hobble off together. Where the hell is Bonnie? Are the two of them still in a fight even after Stanley almost died? She's one bitchy deaf girl.













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