Jed Bailey (![]() ![]() @ 2009-12-28 23:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 02, jacklyn baker, jed bailey, | jack and jed |
Week Two - Tuesday
Characters: Jack Baker and Jed Bailey (and Rocky)
Location: Hardrock Hotel, top floor
Summary: Jack is back in black. She promises not to be any trouble, Jed promises he wants her around, and there is ginger hugging to be had.
Rating: A for Adorableness
The ride over on the bike had been enough to make Jack ache and she took the time in the elevator ride to lean against the wall and relax. It wasn't easy. A soreness lingered, making her ribs hurt if she took too big of a breath. She had to force her muscles to unwind, nervousness trying to make her stiff. What if she was making a mistake? What if Jed took one look at her all bruised up and said he was right about her being too much trouble? What if she couldn't convince him to change his mind? Jack was dreading having to go back to her school to live alone. She didn't want to be all by herself. She had to make Jed believe she was really sorry. Everything was too big and scary when you were alone and there was no was no one to talk to.
But facing him and not knowing what he'd do was scary, too. Jack knew he was here, she'd made sure by checking for his truck before she even went in to the hotel. It was like a peace offering. She didn't sneak in when he was gone 'cause she was sorry. Jack did let herself into the hotel room though, deciding that knocking was too weird and if he was still mad it wouldn't matter anyways. The second she was through the door, Rocky was barking and racing toward her. Jack held out her hands, not wanting Rocky to get too enthusiastic when all she wanted to do was bend and bury her face in his fur. But she had to talk to Jed first.
"I know I cause trouble but I don't mean to," she said, wanting to get everything out right away in case he wanted her to leave. "I'll be good, I promise. Please don't be mad at me. I'm really sorry, Jed."
Rocky's first bark sent Jed to his feet without thinking, his heart racing, with a slight sense of panic that his guns weren't right at hand. Then his eyes focused on the door, and the shock that washed over him almost made his knees give out. It was Jack, that he knew, despite her appearance. One eye was black, the swelling still pretty bad. There were scabbed over scratches on her cheek, and her lip was split. Bruises blossomed all along jaw. Anger coursed through him; anger at whoever had done this, anger at Jack for running away where he couldn't protect her, but most of all anger at himself for being the reason she ran away.
His body started working before his brain did, and he was over to her in a few long strides, getting on one knee before he pulled her into a tight hug.
And suddenly, Jack was relaxed. She wrapped arms around Jed's neck, not hugging him so much as falling on him. "I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry," she said against his neck. She stayed like that only a second longer before pulling away, eyes shining. "Sorry," she said again. "It hurts."
The anger surging up again, Jed pulled back, though he kept his hands on her shoulders. "What happened? Who did this? Where are they?" he practically spat. It didn't matter what ZoƩ had told him before; seeing it for himself was worse than he'd imagined.
"It wasn't my fault," she said quickly. "I was in a store an - and there were these boys..." Jack's eyes burned and she wished she could act like she didn't care. "...I didn't even do anything to them."
Jed's stomach twisted, the rest of him filling with an overwhelming and aching sense of helplessness. His grip tightened on her shoulders without him realizing. "Don't ever leave me again, y'hear? It's not-- I don't know why you did it this time, but juss don' go running off, ever." A sensible part of him kicked in, remembering they'd argued about him ordering her around before, so he added, "Please."
Jack's bottom lip quivered, relieved that Jed wasn't angry at her and confused that he didn't know why she'd run away. "I thought you were mad at me; you said I was - I'm going to try not to get into trouble but what if I mess stuff up? What if you don't want me anymore?"
So that's what had happened? She was afraid he'd kick her out, so she left first. He had an easy time understanding that impulse. He set his hand on her head, one place he was pretty sure she wasn't hurt. "I was mad at you, but that's only 'cause I thought you might hurt yourself. But you ain't no trouble. Well..." He gave a shrug. "Alright, you are a bit of trouble, but Rocky's more trouble'n you, and he's stickin' around. I am gonna get mad sometimes, Jack, but I'm always gonna want you around. Alright?"
Jack blinked and the tears that had been building finally spilled. She wanted to wipe them away but it still hurt too much to touch her eye. "What if you change your mind?" People weren't nice anymore, so what was keeping Jed from throwing her out? She was just some kid he'd picked up, nothing could make him let her stay. And then if he did, she'd be all by herself, forever. Maybe he missed his own family, that was why.
The tears were probably the most painful thing he'd ever seen, and he couldn't wipe them away or hug her or do anything that made sense. All he had was words, and it was hard to make that enough. "I swear, I promise, I won't ever change my mind. And if I ever get angry an' say that, then you juss yell and remind me I promised, 'cause I don't break my promises. An' if I'm still bein' stupid, go tell Alice, an' she'll yell at me until I stop."
She was finally able to wipe her tears, gently swiping them away as they trailed down her cheeks and avoiding her eyes, especially the black one. "I don't mean to make people mad. Really, I don't." She needed to go talk to Searle, make sure he wasn't still mad at her, too. "Jed, did you used to have kids? Before?" If he missed his kids and she missed her parents, it was good to not be alone. It wasn't the same - Jed was not her father - but maybe it made things easier. Poor Searle though, all by himself.
The question made him freeze, especially after what Alice had said about Jack being a daddy's girl. He didn't want to be her replacement father, it struck him as wrong on every level, but he definitely didn't want to push her away. "Naw, no kids. I had friends, though. That's what you and me are, right? Real good friends?"
Jack wasn't interested in Jed taking the place of her father. Her daddy was gone and no one could ever replace him. She just thought that trying to handle missing people was easier if you weren't alone. Sitting outside her old house alone didn't make missing her parents hurt any less. "Yeah," Jack answered, thinking that it was kind of a silly thing for Jed to ask.
He smiled, giving her shoulder a pat. "Good. So let's get you restin'. I got some ice packs in the freezer, they can help, and some pain killers. You wanna sit on the couch or your bed?"
"Couch," Jack chose, thinking that being in her empty room would be kind of weird. She relocated, settling into the corner of the sofa and calling Rocky up with her. The dog tried to kiss her face but that was uncomfortable so she nudged his face away and Rocky settled for bathing her hands, instead. "I didn't bring any of my stuff back," she told Jed.
"No problem, we can grab it in a couple hours," he said, heading to the kitchen and bringing back the packs. "You go far away, or is it close enough to walk? Been tryin' to save gas more lately."
"A couple miles, maybe?" Jack estimated. "But the store where...that's right by there." What if they saw those boys? What if there were more than three of them? She frowned at the ice packs. "Will these help? I mean, it's been a couple of days."
Jed's jaw tightened, but he nodded at the ice packs first. "If yer still sore, they can help, prob'ly. I might have to take a look at yer ribs, make sure they're not broke. And don't worry 'bout those guys. We see 'em again, I'll show 'em what it's like to be beat up by someone bigger'n you."
"Okay." For some reason, Jack didn't want to show Jed her ribs. He'd only ever seen her in her baggy clothes and it felt embarrassing. Still, she pulled up on the hem of her T-shirt, keeping it over her chest but revealing a mottled collection of bruises. Jed took a deep breath through his nose, trying to put aside the rising anger for later. Nothing looked overly amiss, though, so even if a rib or two was broken, it wasn't the dangerous kind of break.
"Alright. Looks like you juss need to leave 'em alone and not laugh or sneeze or nothin' for a while," he said, getting up again for the kitchen. "And lots of pain killers and good food. What you wanna eat? I'll make whatever you feel like."
"Pancakes!" They'd had a couple boxes of pancake mix, the kind where you only needed to add water. Pancakes had been her favorite food before the virus happened. These days though, she actually craved peanut butter the most and hoarded any jars of it she could find. She arranged her ice packs, stretching out and using Rocky as a foot rest.
Jed grinned wide, feeling like his insides were swelling with something wholly unlike anger. "Alright, kiddo, pancakes it is," he said pulling out a pan and flipping on the electric stove. While it heated up, he grabbed some pills and water for Jack, giving Rocky a pat as he went by.
Jack took the medicine without question. "Hey, Jed," she said once she had a long sip of water, "can I go see Searle tomorrow?"
There was some hesitation in Jed's expression, but he tried to shrug it off. He'd set things straight with Searle; it should be fine. "Yeah, sure. I actually talked with him yesterday, me and Alice. We got sick of waitin' for people to come along, so we put up signs for them to meet us every day at noon. He saw 'em and came."
"You put up signs?" It seemed like that was a really big deal. "Why? Did any people come? What do they say? What do you say? Are they nice? What happens when you meet them?"
Jed laughed. "Jesus, we got time, you don't have to say it all at once. And we just thought it would be good to get people together, keep 'em safe." He bit his tongue the moment the word was out of his mouth. Oh well, no going back on it. "Anyway, we met a couple nice folks. There was the woman said she met you, too. She found you with those boys."
"Oh, the French lady. She was really nice; she got them to let me go." Jack frowned though, thinking about what he said. "Get people together where? Like, to stay?" Is that what that meant?
"Maybe," he said with a shrug, though more and more that was exactly what he wanted. "Right now it's juss makin' friends, findin' the good people still out there." There was a sizzle as the pancake batter hit the pan.
Jack wasn't sure how she felt about a bunch of people staying together. It was okay when it was her and Jed but other people were confusing. "Will Searle come back? 'Cause I could just see him there, then."
"Maybe, don't know for sure. I think he's still stayin' at the mall, though." Jed was quiet a moment before adding, "I don't think you should come along, though, to the meetin's. There could be dangerous folk there, and I don't wanna have to worry about you."
"That's not fair!" Jack protested, forgetting for the moment her promise to stay out of trouble. "But you said you go every day. I don't want to be left by myself everyday."
"Juss fer a couple hours," Jed said quickly. "You can keep Rocky company; he stays here, too."
Jack frowned, conflicted. There could be bad people there - Jack still wasn't over how it felt to be hit and she didn't want to be hit again ever. But didn't that mean Jed would be with the bad people, too? "But what if lots of bad people come and it's just you?"
Jed had hoped it would take her a bit longer to get to that angle. He flipped the first couple pancakes from the skillet, plating them and grabbing the syrup before bringing them over. "Me and Alice. And we're bein' real careful, I promise. I can even get you a walkie-talkie so you can talk to me the whole time."
"You got walkie-talkies? Can I have one to give to Searle?" Jack took her plate, shredding her pancakes with her fingers before dousing everything in syrup. For a second, she missed the taste of butter.
"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess," he said, frowning slightly. She seemed awfully fixated on the kid. "You can't use 'em all the time, though. Juss when it's important."
"Okay." That made sense to Jack and if it got Searle a walkie, she wouldn't protest. "Can I ask you something else?"
"Sure. You can always ask me anything," he said firmly. "I want you an' me to always talk."
Jack felt a rush of gratitude at Jed for that. "Will you help me? Show me what to do so nobody can hit me?"
Jed grinned. "I wasn't gonna bring it up right away, but that's exactly what I been thinkin' about. I know some hand-to-hand stuff, but most important is you learn how to use a gun."
She hesitated for a moment. Guns were scary and so was the idea of killing someone. But she didn't want anyone to be able to hurt her again. "Um, okay."
He could see she wasn't exactly keen on the idea. "Don' worry, you prob'ly won't ever need to use it. Most people back down soon as you pull out a gun. I juss want to teach you, just in case they call yer bluff."
Jack nodded. She would have to get used to the idea that calling her bluff meant having to shoot somebody. But she would. Nobody was going to hurt her ever again, so she'd let Jed teach her and get over it. "Okay."
Smiling, Jed reached out to ruffle her hair. He liked being able to touch her, to know she was there for real. "You're a tough kid, Jack. Been through the mill but you're goin' strong."