Jacklyn Baker (called_jack) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-02-10 21:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 04, jacklyn baker, john james searle, | jack and searle |
Week Four - Saturday
Characters: Jack Baker and John Searle
Location: Searle's room
Summary: Following the meeting with Jared, Jack returns to the hotel to warn Searle about the newest house guest. After the bad news, they play and Jack gives them something to look forward to.
Rating: Totally G
Jack was not having a good day. What's-his-name, Jared, had shown up where he was not welcome; Alice had decided to help him anyways; Jed and Alice were fighting; and Alice was back to hating her. After Alice and that boy left, she and Jed had tried to go back to normal but it was hard. Jack was unhappy and Jed was tense and it seemed like they were both mad at Alice. How could she help him? This wasn't some kid alone on the street who needed their help - it was a bad guy! He'd done bad things to her and Alice didn't even care. Jack had to make sure that Jared wouldn't hurt anyone else. People had to know he was coming and since he was closest in age to Searle, that meant he was most dangerous to Searle. People like Jed were big enough and strong enough to look out for themselves but Searle needed to be warned. As soon as they were home from the museum, Jack went straight to go find him.
"Searle!" she called, knocking on his door.
Having just settled down to do something he hadn't done in a while - read - Searle was immediately distracted by Jack's knock. Tossing the car magazine down on the table, he got up and went to the door, opening it up to look at Jack, somewhat concerned. "What's wrong?" He could tell by her voice she was unhappy.
She frowned, walking in to the room. "Look, if you see a boy around here, a little bit older than you with black hair - not like your hair but fake black - stay away from him, okay? He's a bad guy and he's here, so you have to be really careful, okay?"
"What?" Jack said it all a little too fast for him to understand. "A bad guy is here?" Feeling sudden fear, Searle closed the door quickly after Jack. "We have to tell Jed and Alice."
"They know." She crossed her arms over her chest, annoyed and angry at Alice. "He's staying with Alice, she doesn't care he's bad but we can't trust him."
Searle was quiet at length. "Why's he bad?" he finally asked, frowning.
Jack stared at the floor. "He - he's one of the ones who hit me and Alice brought him home." How could she? Alice had seen how much they'd hurt her and what, didn't care? Someone bad had hurt Alice so she knew how that felt. Did Alice hate her so much that he didn't mind making her be around someone who had done that to her?
There was no preparing Searle for that answer. Out of all the people in Las Vegas, one of the boys who had hit Jack was staying with their group. Searle did feel angry on Jack's behalf, but he also realized Alice must have a very good reason to bring the boy home. "Maybe Alice believes that saying 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'?" Searle suggested, but he sounded unsure.
"No, she thinks we should help him. I guess he was in a gang and now he's not but I don't know what that has to do with anything. So what? What if he was lying about not being in a gang anymore? What if he's spying?" She hadn't thought about that before, but it made sense. What if he was just going to bring his bad friends here?
"I don't know." It was possible the kid wanted an in so he could get access to all of the many supplies they'd gathered. "I bet she's going to be watching him. She can't just let someone who hurt you in here without watching him. If she isn't, I will." A guy who beat up on twelve year old girls didn't seem so scary, even if he was a little older.
Jack didn't like that as a solution. "I don't want him to hurt you, too."
Searle smiled. "He won't hurt me if he wants to stay here. If he really is a spy, he'll be biding his time acting like he's one of us." Finally, all of those TV shows he'd watched were coming to good use.
"Until he decides to stop biding his time and does something bad," Jack pointed out. The idea of Searle getting hurt bothered her a lot.
"I just want to see him," Searle decided. "Alice isn't dumb, she isn't going to trust someone who hurt you just like that. I bet he won't be able to carry any weapons. And I have the walkie-talkie. If I get in trouble I can call for help." Searle wanted to see the kid for himself. He didn't want to pick a fight, but he couldn't help but want to exchange words with him.
Jack bit her lip and looked concerned. She didn't like this - she had wanted to warn Searle to stay away. "You have to promise to be careful. Don't let him do anything bad to you, okay? Alice might want him around, but I don't trust him and I don't want him here."
"I won't let him do anything bad," Searle promised, crossing his heart with his index finger. He really didn't think the kid could do anything to him. "It's just ... if Alice thinks he should be here, I'm curious."
"Well, I don't think he should." Jack was the one who had been hit and as far as she was concerned, that meant hers was the opinion that mattered.
"Yeah, but you know how adults are," Searle said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah," Jack agreed. She wondered when Searle wanted to do this, talk to Jared. "Hey, you want to come hang out? Have dinner and watch a movie or something?"
"Sure, we should bake more cupcakes for dinner." Cupcakes were better than anything that had freezer burn on it for months.
Jack gave him a friendly little shove. "What and make me do all the work again? No way."
Laughing, Searle slung an arm around Jack's neck and pulled her close to give her a gentle noogie. "Who says you have a choice?"
"You think just because you're bigger than me, you can make me? Dream on!" she yelled, pushing against his chest. Searle tried to catch Jack's hands to keep her still.
"Aw, Searle!" she protested as he caught her, even as she tried to keep from laughing.
Searle laughed also, letting go of her hands once she seemed to give up. "Cupcakes?" he asked again; he hadn't been kidding before, but this time he was grinning broadly.
Jack grinned back and stuck her tongue out at him. She could use a treat today but didn't feel like the work. "Maybe we can wait for cupcakes? I think it might be almost my birthday." It was hard to tell what the date was but it felt like they were getting close. Jack only helped they hadn't missed it.
"When's your birthday?" he asked, looking interested. While he didn't really know which day it was either, someone else probably did.
"September fourth." It felt like summer was almost over so maybe September was close.
Searle nodded. "September fourth will be the next time we have cupcakes," he promised, and hoped it wasn't very far off.
Jack grinned at him. "But don't even think about me making them."
"I'll make them," Searle laughed. "You wanna pick what we eat for dinner?"
"Eh," she shrugged. "Come on, come back to my room and we'll see what Jed wants. Let him do the cooking."