Evie throws herself into his arms.

"Jing Yi-- you disappeared-- I was so worried-- I thought Parker had got you--"

She's crying.

Fuck. "Didn't Terrence let you know where I was?"

"I'm just-- still feeling a bit off from my hospital adventures. I didn't want to get in your way."

"No! He hemmed and hawed about it-- you know how he gets--"

"I always want to spend time with you, no matter how off you feel. You wouldn't want me to disappear if I was feeling poorly, would you? You'd want to be able to take care of me."

"And I want to take care of you."

There is no way Ruby is going to come save him, is there? And there's no way he can easily just send Evie away.

(And... Does he want to? Everyone is so convinced he's under a spell, but people fall in love and act stupid for mundane reasons all the time.)

"I know, I just-- didn't want to interfere with your work. I'm sensitive to noise right now." 'I am... Allergic to sewing machines and also people walking around' is one of his stupidest lies to date, but it's the only one he can think of.

She whispers. "I can visit you and be quiet."

"Jing Yi, I love you."

"I know, I just-- need a week. I don't want to be poor company for you."

"I would rather see you."

"...this means you can't help with Chris Parker, right?"

Jing Yi feels a brief impulse to say something about keeping her safe from Parker, then the impulse passes.

And he notices it this time. It could be something that came from his own head-- it's not implausible -- but it's eyebrow raising.

"Evie, I keep randomly fainting. I may as well walk up to Parker covered in honey with an apple in my mouth."

"I'll try to see what else I can set up..."

"I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'm sorry, I want to help, I just-- can't right now. Not till I'm sure I've recovered." What he's recovering from isn't something she needs to know.

Evie enters the house. "What happened?"

Any attempt at subtly blocking the door fails, and she's in.

(The thought flits across his brain: how did Evie find him? How does she know about Ruby.)

"I honestly don't know. I get to be a Medical Mystery. I went to bed in one place, and woke up several days later in a hospital feeling like death warmed up."

"I know some doctors. Maybe they could help."

"Who are they?" (He's definitely saying that because he's curious, and not because he's suspicious.)

"Family friends."

Hahahaha fuck no. "We'll see if my current ones can't untangle this case."

"All right." She kisses him.

And he is simultaneously trying to look like he's having the feelings he had before, while stopping himself from actually having them, and he isn't sure how much he is succeeding at either of them.

"Love you. And-- I'll be back soon."

She starts to slide a hand up his shirt. "Surely you're not that tired."

There is only one way to stop himself doing something stupid: doing something stupider.

He goes limp and collapses to the ground-- being careful not to collapse on her without it looking deliberate. Behold the Marvelous Medical Mystery, The Randomly Unconscious Man who should do no murders or heavy petting or anything else.

She kneels down, examines him.

Doesn't seem to find whatever she's looking for. Stands.

What is she looking for?

... Well that was terrifying and raises a lot of questions.

He feels itchy, and honestly he's less sure of whether his mind is uninfluenced or not.

It hasn't been that long since he wrote to his father, but it's been long enough. And his last letter was Kind of Nonsense. Mostly accurate in the events it described, but emotionally dishonest. He's going to try the opposite.

He starts by apologizing for being vague: there's a lot of context, and he doesn't have a whole lot of paper. He's doing something dangerous. It's worthwhile, he's helping keep other people safe, but if the letters ever stop... There will probably be a reason for that. The girl he mentioned last time is one of those people in danger. He can't be entirely sure he trusts her, but... He's going to support her as well as he can. Because being as a good a person as he can be matters.

He asks how his father is doing, how the rest of his family is doing. Hopes they are safe and well, and apologizes for not being safe himself. Sends the letter.

Meanwhile--

Inaaya can come over and learn about the state of explosives plans. Here is all the information they now have about how best to arrange the explosives. Actual explosives not present but good as.

Great! Having any idea what they're doing with the explosives is so much better than not that!

She keeps wanting to say something about how Joan wishes she wasn't doing this and not quite managing to get the words out.

There isn't anyone who knows what Sal's doing that would wish she wasn't doing it. This is deliberate.

Sal had half a dozen contradictory plans for what to tell Inaaya and now she can't say any of them. There's a photo of his girlfriend (ex-girlfriend?) on the side table, left out specifically for an excuse if things went too far. He stares at it. It has no advice.

He should mention her. It's a lot easier to say he has a girlfriend than to get into the reasons why in a much deeper sense he really does not. And either one would work as a perfect reason not to pursue anything here.

"Do you have... anyone?" he asks, which is really the worst way to communicate that.