Who: Allison and Jackson Where: The Argents' backyard When: Backdated to right after this What: Allison runs into Jackson on her way home Status: Complete Warnings: N/A
“You’re not in this alone. I will always help you, Allison.” Elijah said.
“I'll hold you to that.” She smiled at him softly and turned to go. There wasn’t really anything else to discuss. She wasn’t even in a hurry to get home and tell her family that she had her memories back because then there would be the onslaught of questions and the way she had left things with her father before she was kidnapped wasn’t exactly good. Maybe she would wait until morning to tell them, she had a lot to think about tonight. Starting with how she was going to sneak back in without her father knowing. She felt vulnerable out in Portland at night with no weapons so she made sure to stay on her guard. If Elijah followed her home or not, she would never know.
She stood at the bottom of her house and looked around. She had the feeling she was being watched and figured Elijah had seen her home after all. She was too stubborn to ask him for help climbing back into her bedroom window quietly. Instead she sighed and looked at the climb in front of her. She was just about to start her ascent when a shadow moved towards her, across the backyard. She was instantly defensive until she recognized the steady swing of his shoulders. His entire stance screamed arrogance and as much as that grated on Allison sometimes, she saw another side of Jackson too. They had become unlikely friends but that seemed like almost a lifetime ago. Allison hadn’t really been a good friend to him in the end though and that was he last thing he remembered. That she had turned on him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him. She looked up nervously to see if any lights were being turned on. Her father was aware of her lifestyle choices. She was eighteen years old but she had to sneak out to see her boyfriends so her father wouldn’t kill them. She was going to have to do something about this but for now she was at a loss. She was already reeling from the night’s events.
Jackson just kind of looked at her before looking off, an exasperated huff of breath leaving his lips as if it was a hard question to answer. Mainly it was. What was he doing here? Obviously it was to see what was going on without having anyone know that he was … seeing what was going on. He frowned though, looking at her again for a moment. Did she remember? He wasn’t even sure if she knew who he was. Last he heard some dick of a vampire had taken her memories. He wasn’t new to the supernatural by any means, but he was new to this kind of supernatural.
He couldn’t tell if she knew him or not. She seemed shaken, but relaxed at the same time. The little things that he was picking up on were conflicting and it was annoying because there was no straight answer with her body language, or whatever else he was feeling. It was weird feeling other people’s emotions in a way, everything was heightened for him now. He was still learning though.
“Do you even know who I am?” Jackson asked, his eyebrow raised. Most likely she didn’t and this wasn’t even going to matter.
“Yes, Jackson. I know who you are.” She smiled at him in the moonlight. “You have good timing because I’m literally coming back home from getting my memories back.” The whole experience had been completely disorienting. She felt a little guilty for wandering off with Elijah by herself when she had promised Isaac that she would always tell him so he could along with her. That had been before Isaac made it clear where he stood on everything. He stood with her father and Scott when it came to how to handle Elijah and so Allison hadn’t told him.
It didn’t matter now. What was done was done and now she had her memories back. It was nice to remember a familiar face like Jackson’s but she had wished that Klaus hadn’t left her with some of her other memories. She could have done without the ones immediately following Hayley shoving her into a storage unit. She really didn’t like her but was conflicted because of the baby. Not that it mattered, now Allison was compelled to protect Klaus and his family from her and hers.
“You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here? Not that I’m not glad to see you.” And she had no qualms about asking Jackson for help climbing back up in through her bedroom window. She didn’t want to invite him though just in case her dad was up and around. She doubted he would be happy to know there was a third werewolf in the equation. Which, there wasn’t. Nothing between Allison and Jackson had ever existed besides friendship. Allison had always been about Scott.
He looked her over. Alright, she did know who he was and she had her memories back. Which was a relief, even to him. He hadn’t been involved with this, with the exception of the first night when he was with Chris, Isaac and Scott, but he had been lurking around, to just see. To check on her, or maybe even them. Not that it mattered. Jackson was fine on his own and without them. But Allison was different from the rest of them, he actually liked her and he felt that the feeling was mutual. So what, if he was worried?
“Just checking on you.” He looked away. “Whatever, don’t make a big deal about it,” he smiled slightly and shrugged. Not that she would and he was only kidding anyway. He pushed his hands in his jacket pockets as his eyes settled on hers again. “So what happened? How’d you get them back?”
She rolled her eyes but her mouth twitched up in the slightest of smiles when he admitted that he was checking up on her. And here he was, trying to act like he didn’t care about anyone. She knew that Lydia was feeling ambivalent about things with Jackson and that had probably driven him away. He was younger than they were, stuck in the past when they had all moved on without him. Allison missed Jackson, they text messaged each other all the time back and forth from California to London. Then there was Skype. But he wasn’t really present in her life anymore. He and Lydia were estranged and he had never really been friends with any of the rest of them.
“I’m not entirely sure. Well, I mean the vampire who compelled them away from me, compelled me to remember them again.” Along with a few caveats of his own which Allison was still seething about. Of course, she was happy to have her memories back and to broker a peace treaty between the two families but the way he kept using her mind as his own personal playground, she hated him for it.
“I think my aunt is working with them. Have you noticed she’s in town? She’ll be looking for you if she knows you’re a werewolf and I’m guessing that she knows you’re a werewolf. I don’t know how we’re going to handle her yet. I have to talk to my dad about it.” She looked up at him. “I mean it, Jackson. Be careful.” Jackson was arrogant and that could make him careless.
“So what happens now? He gives you back the memories and then it’s over?” That seemed entirely too easy. What was the point of it all? Jackson didn’t have the whole story, obviously, he never asked for it, and they never told him. But whatever, she had her memories back, even if it seemed entirely too easy. He was sure something would go down - again and he’d hear about it.
Jackson knew that Kate was around, he just didn’t really care. He honestly didn’t think she was going to do anything, especially after the few days that she’d been here and the place hadn’t burned down or gone to shit yet. He didn’t know about how Kate and Hayley had gone to Chris’ house either. He just wasn’t around and when he did come to check up on Allison, it was sporadic.
“You don’t have to worry about me, I’m good.” It was easily said and Jackson hadn’t had any problems in Portland yet. He had a job, his car back, he actually met someone that he might consider a friend. It wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like he had parents to go home to.
“How was it?” He asked slowly, barely looking at her. “Not remembering anything?” Jackson thought it would be freeing to just forget everything there was to know. There wouldn’t be that constant fucking pressure, or painful memories. It would be easier, but he was curious as to how Allison felt about it.
“It was horrible,” she admitted. “I felt like the lights were on but nobody was home. You know? Some things I would feel connected to but I couldn’t ever feel connected to myself. Klaus could have killed me but he did worse than that. He erased me.” It was the only time she would put it like that, to herself or to anyone else. She could trust Jackson, she knew that. He had self-preservation skills which meant he wasn’t going to be impulsive and go running after Klaus looking for vengeance. “There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re literally lose your mind.”
Allison would never forget what Klaus did to her. And as much as she wanted to wipe that shitty little grin off of his face, she was helpless to make a move against him. It was part of the deal he had hard wired into her. Allison couldn’t strike against any of the originals and she would have to keep her friends and family from doing the same thing. She couldn’t fix it and so dwelling on it was pointless, it only made her angry and frustrated.
“And you are not good. You’re an omega. You know what that means. I really think you should consider asking Scott about joining his pack. You know there’s strength in numbers when it comes to werewolves.” And it wasn’t just werewolves either. Lydia and Allison and Stiles were all considered members of the pack and none of them were shapeshifters.
“I don’t know, it seems to me like a mental vacation,” he shrugged, but he could see how it would be hell for her. Especially with the people that constantly surrounded her, and wanted her and pulled her every which way. She was useless to them whereas Jackson only had himself here. Nobody asked anything of him and he did what he wanted, when he wanted no questions asked. They had different lives, so it would probably affect them differently.
Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. “I’ve been okay on my own and I don’t need McCall’s help for anything.” Please, as if Jackson needed anything from him - or wanted it. He did get help from Derek and that was pushing it. He seemed to be doing okay for now and things were only getting better. There were still times he struggled, but whatever, he was getting through it. And even if he wasn’t getting through it, even if he was struggling constantly, he wouldn’t ask McCall.
….. At least not anytime soon.
“Do you need help back in the window,” he asked, giving her a look before he glanced up at the window.
“That was not a vacation,” Allison said firmly. It was one of the least pleasant experiences of her life and now that she could finally remember it, she was processing it, every little bit. There was a lot of shame and anger involved in reliving her time spent with Klaus. He was like a spoiled child with iron fists. The brat king. She hated him with a passion that would burn for eternity if she let it. She wanted to put her fist through his chest and hold his heart in her hands.
Maybe one day.
“Thanks for checking on me. Jackson, I know you’re probably too stubborn to join the pack but don’t forget that I’m around. We don’t have to be strangers anymore. We never were, even back home. We texted each other all the time.” She smiled at him slightly. “We were still friends.” She could be honest with him in a way that she couldn’t really be with most of the people in her life. Oddly, she felt the same way about Lydia. She could tell Lydia the truth about things and not worry about her doing anything crazy about it.
“But I won’t make a big deal out of it.” Her smile turned to a smirk. “And yes. I could use a boost, if you don’t mind.”
He didn’t really think her time was a vacation, but to him, a mental break from shitty memories would probably do him some good. His parents that weren’t his parents, Gerald, Lydia equaled shit, shit and more shit. But he couldn’t change it, he couldn’t change that fact that he had no idea who he really was, or the fact that Lydia wanted nothing to do with him. Which that was a blow. But even with every shitty memory or moment, he just pushed it down and did what he needed to do. It helped keep his mind off of it all and maybe there were a few other things that helped too.
“We did?” He smirked and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll keep in touch.” Besides, he was out here checking on her, he had done it nearly every other night. Tonight she just caught him and tonight … she had her memories, so he guessed it worked out. He turned, walking along side her toward the side of the house. “You’re in a for a long night,” he said, a hint of pity in his voice because it was going to be fucking overwhelming, he was sure of it.
“Ready?”
“I think I’ll tell them in the morning,” she told him. It was the middle of the night and there was no point in waking everyone up for this now. She would tell everyone in the morning, she would make a post on the network and then she would go and see Isaac, who to her knowledge had yet to wake up after Hayley’s brutal attack on him.
“I’m ready.” She put her foot in his hands and he launched her up towards the landing by her bedroom where she landed quietly. Leaning over the edge of the roof she was going to say goodbye but he had already vanished. She sighed and quietly crawled back through her bedroom window. She was back inside before anyone was the wiser and she slipped into her pajamas. She wasn’t sure how she would sleep tonight with all of those memories weighing her down but she had to try.