Jackson Kenner | The Originals (bayouwolf) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2021-04-05 10:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !completed gdoc, !log, ~2021 april, ~~hayley marshall (havinaminiklaus), ~~jackson kenner (bayouwolf) |
WHO: Jackson Kenner and Hayley Marshall-Kenner
WHAT: Meeting for the first time in Madison Valley
WHEN: After his arrival
WHERE: Hinkles
WARNINGS: Nah.
STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Jackson wasn’t really sure what was going on. Sure, he’d had it explained to him by the people who had given him his phone, and by Hayley and some of the others, but the truth was that none of it made a damned bit of sense. Part of him was just glad to be away from the Strix, but another part of him was really pissed to be in god-only-knew-where Indiana. He’d never spent any time outside of southern Louisiana, and he liked it that way.
He ordered Hayley’s hashbrowns and got himself the werewolf special - partially because being able to order that was really...weird and awesome at the same time. Then he sat down at one of the booths and sipped at his coke as he ate the burgers slowly.
He knew that he was going to learn things that weren’t good. He could tell by the way Hayley and others had phrased things on the network. He didn’t like the idea, and there was anxiety at the pit of his stomach. Still, they’d work things out as they always had, and get through them somehow.
***
Jackson was here. Not just someone that looked like Jackson that she mistook on the street, jumped and kissed. This was her late husband, who had been brought here from just before he’d been killed. Hayley had been here long enough to have built a life for herself, including a boyfriend. How the hell was she going to explain everything to Jackson? He’d had it bad enough when Elijah had been in the picture, and Hayley hadn’t even done anything with the eldest male Mikaelson at the time. She was about to find out, because she’d be damned if she let anyone else do it. This was her responsibility.
When she arrived at Hinkles she hadn’t expected the surge of emotions she got when she saw Jackson. Yes, Max looked exactly like him, but now that Jackson was right in front of her, Hayley didn’t know how she had mistaken the two. Movements and scent were everything. God, she had missed him! She pulled herself together before she arrived at his booth.
“Jackson,” she said and was kind of surprised to hear her voice work.
***
He looked up instantly and smiled a crooked smile at her. “Hayley.” He stood, because it felt wrong to be sitting when she was there, right in front of him. His heart surged with its own emotions. Love, mostly. He’d loved her for as long as he could remember, first the idea of her and then the much more real reality of who she had become. Her strength, her fire, her loyalty to those she loved. Sometimes he felt that being married to her made him the luckiest man on earth, even if he knew that he didn’t have all her affection. That was alright. The fact that she loved him at all was enough for him.
He wanted to reach out to her, but something held him back, and instead he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“It’s...really good to see you.”
***
She hated that look on his face. Worse, she hated that she was always the one to put it there. They had loved each other. It had taken her longer than him to get there, but Hayley had loved Jackson.
Nothing could get done until this tension between them was gone. Hayley sighed with a smile then pulled Jackson into a tight hug. Above all else, she was really glad to see him alive. “I missed you.”
***
Jackson returned it instantly, glad that she’d initiated. Holding her felt right and eased some of his anxiety over arriving in this place that he didn’t know and didn’t understand. He held her for a long while, breathing in the scent of her and letting it calm him as it always did. Hayley was here. Whatever else this place was, it had her, and he’d get by.
Finally pulling back, he smiled at her before sitting again and passing one of the burgers over to her side of the table to join her hash browns. After all, he had plenty.
“This place is weird as hell, but it has at least three things going for it. Good burgers, you, and no Strix.”
***
She couldn’t help but smile. Jackson hugs had always been one of her favorite things. It did leave her feeling like the world’s biggest bitch for everything she had to tell him, so when he let go she cleared her throat a little as she sat down across from him.
“You haven’t even seen the weird,” she said with a chuckle. “There’s a lot here that is going to be really new for you.” Jackson was able to adjust to things. He was good that way. “But no. No Strix. No real bad guys. I haven’t had to fight anyone out of necessity since I got here.” Just Fight Club, but that was for fun.
***
“The weird? I think I can handle it, whatever it is.” After all, it wasn’t like home was normal by any stretch of the imagination. “So...what’s weird about this place then? I mean, other than the fact it’s apparently a sentient dome that’s kidnapped us here for no apparent reason?” Really, that was weird enough. But he was happy enough with it since his situation back home had been total shit.
“So Hope is here, and Klaus, and Freya? Anyone else from home?”
***
Hayley chuckled before she took a bite of the burger. Jackson thought he could handle whatever Madison Valley threw at him. She’ll be around for when the dome goes nuts. Just in case.
“Well,” she said before taking a sip of shake. “Snowmen came to life and attacked people. Future children showed up. People changed ages.” And wasn’t that just a fun memory. Her and Klaus having a repeat of how they got Hope.
She nodded. “Hope, Klaus, Freya. Freya’s wife just showed up. Caroline and Lizzie. I think that’s it.” Now for the fun stuff. “Might want to prepare yourself. Hope’s sixteen. And her boyfriend is here.”
***
He raised an eyebrow at those things...that honestly just sounded weird. Not so terrible, just weird. Maybe you had to be there for them to sound terrible. Who knew. It all sounded better than the stuff they’d been put through back home.
“Wait, what?” Hope being sixteen definitely was not something he expected. Nor did he expect her to have a boyfriend.
“Who is this boy? Do I need to have a talk with him?”
***
This place was definitely better than back home. Weird, but better. The stress level was far less, even when Klaus was in one of his moods. Hayley would be perfectly fine if she stayed here forever.
She chuckled for Jackson’s reaction to Landon. “Jackson. Try to remember who you’re talking to.” Seriously. Hayley knew bad boys. “Landon is great. He’s a good kid who makes Hope very happy.” The promise ring thing could wait. “Not to mention Klaus is here. Do you really think Landon hasn’t been threatened within an inch of his life?”
***
“Well. That’s good. That he makes her happy.” Jackson still wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about the whole thing - he still felt a bit fatherly towards Hope, even if he knew very well that he wasn’t actually her father. “I still might talk to him. Maybe.” Or maybe Hayley was right and Klaus had already scared the boy enough.
“This is a lot to take in,” he said, frowning a little. “At least you’re here. At least one thing is still the way it’s supposed to be.”
***
“I think you should meet him, though.” Hayley always felt Jackson was as much Hope’s father as much as if not more than Klaus. He had stepped into that role when Hayley and Hope had lived with the pack. “See for yourself.”
Damn. And here they were. Hayley sighed as she pushed away what was left of the burger, having lost her appetite. “Jackson.” She had to do this. He deserved to know. “Back home, you died.” She wasn’t going to say how unless he pressed for it. “And for me it’s been years since that happened.”
***
Jackson wans’t completely surprised by that. He was pretty sure he had a good idea exactly how he’d died, too. He still didn’t like the idea, though, and pushed his food away as well. This didn’t seem the kind of conversation to have while wolfing down sliders.
He looked up at Hayley, unsure exactly where to take this conversation. Wherever it went, he didn’t think it would be good.
He cleared his throat.
“So...are you with Elijah, then?”
***
“For a while,” she admitted. Jackson would always get the truth from her, even if it hurt. She did love him. More than that, she respected him. “Then things happened where none of us could be near each other. Or near Hope. I took her to the Salvatore school where she could learn with other supernaturals and be taught by Alaric.” And she had hated walking away from that.
“But here…” Shit! “I’ve been here a while now. I’m seeing someone here.”
***
It didn’t surprise him at all that she’d gone to Elijah after he’d died. He knew that she loved him, but he also knew that she’d always wanted Elijah first. He was glad that she’d finally been able to be happy.
He didn’t know if he wanted to know all the things that had happened. Things that happened to the Mikaelsons were usually horrible beyond belief.
“Is that where she met Landon? Is he a supernatural?”
Then he took a deep breath at the last part. He closed his eyes tightly. Then he opened his eyes and looked at her.
“I told you I’d never try to force you to love me. I’m...I’m just glad you’re happy.”
***
“Yes,” she said with a fond smile. “To all of it. He’s a phoenix. If he gets killed, he bursts into flames then comes back. So far as anyone knows there hasn’t been one in forever.” So leave it to her daughter to not just find one but love him.
She let out another heavy breath then reached across to put her hand over Jackson’s arm. “I did love you, Jackson. I always will. You were my husband and my mate. I don’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you. I don’t know what to do now.”
***
“I’ve never heard of one of those being real.” He knew what they were, of course, but they were a story. He was glad for Hope that she’d found someone who couldn’t die.
He tried not to let the sadness show, but he was sure he couldn’t cover it completely.
“What you do is you forget about me and stay with the man you’ve found here who makes you happy.”
***
He should know better than that, and part of Hayley wanted to punch him dead in the face for even suggesting it.
“I could never forget you, Jackson.” She gave his arm a squeeze. Not to mention, he was here, and they would definitely run into each other, especially during the full moon. “I don’t want to forget you. I would like us to be friends.”
***
Jackson looked away, silent for a few moments. Could he be her friend? Maybe, at some point he could. But he didn’t know if he could now. He would need some distance first. He would need to try to learn not to love her like he did.
“Maybe someday,” he said eventually, looking down at his hands instead of at her. “But I’m going to need some space first.”
***
She could understand that. The last thing he would remember was them being together. Happily married, living with the pack and raising Hope. Her guilt over what she was doing to him right now might never let her forget this, however. She slowly took her hand back.
“I’m sorry, Jackson.” She meant it. Then she tried for a little levity. “One more thing you should know. There’s a guy here named Max. He looks exactly like you.”
***
Jackson wasn’t really ready for levity, but he forced a smile.
“Really? Poor guy.”
He stood, running a hand through his hair. He couldn’t stay here. Not now.
“Look, I’m going to go into the woods and go for a run. I need to think. I’ll…” He paused. “I’ll see you around.”
***
Ouch. Hayley needed a drink. A big one. Maybe one day she could go a month here without needing a tequila binge.
“Yeah, ok.” She offered him a weak smile, but didn’t get up. She’d cover their half eaten meal. It really is good to see you. “Take care of yourself.”