Roy didn't want to go home. He didn't know where he was going at all. He drove around Los Angeles absentmindedly, rather unsafely, recklessly.

I can go ahead and become more paralyzed. Wouldn't that be great?

He never wore a seatbelt.

Roy passed the movie studio without taking his eyes off the road, bought a pack of cigarettes at a seedy gas station, proceeded to fill the tank until it was full, and eventually sped back into the driveway.

The reel...he placed it on his lap before wheeling inside, and immediately put it in the bottom of his suitcase.

"What are you doing?" MacKenzie asked curiously.

"Oh. You're back." Roy turned around.

"Are you...okay?"

"Absolutely," Roy insisted. It wasn't convincing. "Hey let's get the hell out of here."

"Huh? Now? Right-"

"C'mon, Kenz," Roy smiled. "Don't back out on your plans, now."

"What...um...27 hours. A car ride is 27 hours."

"Alright let's go."

MacKenzie grinned. Roy noticed her belongings were already waiting on the couch.

"Let's."

"Is your sister home?"

"No."

And Roy suddenly was grateful of his impulsiveness. His impulsiveness which would dictate certain decisions in his life, life-changing decisions, choices, desires. And he flew that car out of the driveway with the windows down, and MacKenzie's hair blew away from her face, heart-shaped glasses shielding her eyes from the harsh sun, a grin on her face; she wasn't mad at Roy anymore, or she had forgotten, or didn't care, because she was happy.

"The Western Gateway to the Rendezvous Region."

"What?" Roy asked.

"Langdon."

"A full day's away, huh."

"Basically."

They rode. MacKenzie had fallen asleep quickly when it became dark, and Roy didn't have the heart to wake her, despite the agreement they would switch at nine o'clock.

"Shit!"

They couldn't have been more than ten hours into the car ride when Roy's inattentive nature- more accurately, absolutely no sleep- nearly caused him to drift into the other lane.

Roy swerved to the right, pulling over to the side of the road. It had jolted MacKenzie out of her sleep, her eyes widened.

"ROY WHAT THE FUCK."

"Babe, babe...please, it's fine."

"It's one in the morning, get the fuck out, I'm driving."

"You hungry?"

"God, Roy, cooperate with me."

"You put my wheelchair, in the trunk."

"Hold on."

And as Roy rolled over to the passenger side, he realized, to his dismay: "No one is drivin' tonight."

"What the..."

Sure enough, the front right tire had flattened, whether it be from a rock, shard of glass, or bad fucking luck.

MacKenzie groaned in frustration.

"Hey, listen. We're not on the highway," Roy tried to calm her down. "Let's just take a rest in the back seat and find a way to patch up the tire tomorrow, 'right?"

MacKenzie was on the verge of tears. She nodded, opening the back door, motioning for Roy to lay down first.

"I'm little spoon."

"You sure are," Roy agreed, and MacKenzie locked the door, setting Roy's knees up against it. He could barely fit.

"God, you must be tall..." she curled up on Roy's chest.

"Yeah, well..."

He recalled the hot sex he had before in the back of this car, when he was young and foolish...both were exhausted, and Roy could barely keep his eyes open at this point. The road seemed to go on forever; it did.

Even in the most uncomfortable sleeping position in his life, Roy eventually was dead to the world, the sounds of cars speeding by completely out of sound.

The sound of a bang on the window, however, was enough to bring him back to life. A middle aged man peered in, a sheriff, well, dressed like one, and it caught Roy off guard.

MacKenzie was still sound asleep, and Roy lightly tapped her on the shoulder.

"Huh...YIKES!" She exclaimed as she noticed the stranger staring at her, motioning to roll down the window.

She climbed up into the drivers seat by instinct, leaving Roy to awkwardly sit himself up and adjust his legs off the seat.

He rolled down the window.

MacKenzie looked like a deer in headlights. Roy didn't know quite how to talk to this guy.

"Hi there," the officer said. He studied Roy, looked over at MacKenzie, and peered into the car. "You mind telling me what you kids are up to?"

"Weeell..." Roy wanted to curse his crawling southern drawl at this moment. Time to play the role of the polite hillbilly before I get my ass arrested. "We got a flat fire last night, y'see. It was late, we figured we'd sleep here for the till morning and get help then."

The man frowned. He bent down to check things out.

"I don't see no flat tire."

"The front!" MacKenzie spoke up. She put her hands to her mouth.

The officer bent down again at the hood of the car.

"You're right. Thought you kids were on drugs and making whoopy..."

Making whoopy?

"Doesn't look to be punctured or anything...simply just ran out of air. No big deal."

"Oh. Wow. That's...great, I guess?"

"Sure thing. You two are lucky I just spent god knows how much on a tire pump."

MacKenzie laughed nervously.

"Let's go, boy. It's in the trunk."

Roy in return looked nervously at MacKenzie.

"Where's..."

"It's fine I left it outside."

Here we fucking go.

Roy scooted over and opened the car door. He lifted each of his legs over the seat, avoiding eye contact and hoping the officer wasn't looking at him.

Just go back to your car already.

"You drunk, boy?"

Oh god. Oh my fuck.

"N-no, I..."

What?

"I'll meet you right over..."

The officer hesitantly began to walk back over to the police car, and Roy sharply turned to look at MacKenzie.

"The wheelchair is gone."

"What?"

"The wheelchair. Is gone."

"Roy- oh. What...Christ."

By this point the officer had opened the trunk and was awkwardly trying to lift the tire pump out.

"Hey!" He beckoned.

"Uh..." Roy called.

"Who the fuck steals a wheelchair on the side of the road in the middle of the night?" MacKenzie angrily got out of the car barefoot and looked both ways before crossing her arms. "Who the FUCK."

Roy was practically dumbfounded.

MacKenzie approached the police car and with one hand effortlessly carried the tire pump over to the sad-looking tire.

She's a nurse. She's carried heavier.

The officer stared at her in astonishment and bent down. He didn't say a word.

MacKenzie angrily opened the passenger side door and before Roy could protest lifted him up under the arms and dragged him to the front seat while mumbling profanities to herself.

Roy was as red as a tomato.

Meanwhile, the officer, who hadn't a clue what was going on, nearly overfilled the tire with air before MacKenzie cleared his throat.

"You're...all set."

"Thank you SO much, officer."

"My, uh, pleasure. You two kids be safe now, no sleeping in your car, go get a motel."

Roy nodded.

"Is there anything else I can help you two with?"

"Um, yeah, actually. I left my husband's wheelchair outside of the car and it's gone..."

The officer cocked his head, perplexed.

"Come again?"

Roy rolled down the window. "She's not kidding."

"I don't know what to tell you two."

"You're a policeman, don't you stop thieves?"

"A wheelchair."

"Sorry, I'm actually paralyzed-" Roy began.

Why am I apologizing?

"Are you sure?"

"What?"

"Roy, please, I can handle this."

"Kenz-"

"You two aren't from this area, are you?"

"I'm sorry sir, but we can't just leave," MacKenzie said. "This is kind of important."

"I'd say I'd keep an eye out, but you're not from around here so...you two will be fine in the meantime, yeah?"

"Did you not hear what my husband just told you?"

Are you Dahlia now??!!

MacKenzie got into the driver's seat and forcefully started the ignition.

"Thank you SO much, sir. Really. You've been a LOT of help."

Roy slowly rolled up the window, eyes fixed ahead. "Oh. My. God."

MacKenzie left the officer without looking at him.

"Um...MacKenzie???"

"Who the FUCK."

"It was probably a hobo or something."

She brake checked the car behind her at a stop light. Roy nearly hit his head on the dashboard.

"So help me God I will murder that hobo," she said through gritted teeth.

Roy didn't know how to respond.