Derek Miller (throughthemill) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-04-12 20:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 06, alice munroe, derek miller, jacklyn baker, jed bailey, |* alice/jed/jack, ~ series: nv meetups |
Week Six - Friday
Characters: Jack Baker, Jed Bailey, Alice Munroe and Derek Miller
Location: Nevada State Museum
Summary: Jack sneaks into the meeting where Alice lays down the law and offers her a choice. Later, Derek shows up with payment for the water he received last time but a warning about potential danger is misconstrued and violence nearly erupts.
Rating: PG-13 for strong language and violent imagery
Jed was going to be angry. Jack had to remind herself of that and often. Alice was probably going to be just as angry, but Alice hated her anyways, so her opinion didn't count. She still couldn't exactly explain why she wanted to do this. To show up Jed? To show that she didn't care what he thought of her? That would have to be enough. Getting to the meeting was actually pretty easy. Unlike the last time Jack had done this, she didn't drive her bike down. Instead, she left the driving to Jed.
When she was climbing into the back of the truck, Jack had been sure this couldn't work but the cover on the truck bed shielded her from view and as Jed drove to the museum, she lay in the back and tried not to even breathe. She didn't follow him in, not right away. Instead she gave him and Alice a couple of minutes before she climbed out of the truck, movement hampered a little by the clothing she'd borrowed from Holly. What was a tunic on the older woman could be worn as a dress on someone as short as Jack and she felt exposed in it. Hopefully, she'd be able to get her stuff out of her room at Jed's and wouldn't need to borrow again. Not nearly as bold as she'd been the last time she'd done this, Jack opened the door.
It was a shock to hear the door open before they'd even started to get things ready. Seeing who was at the door made Jed's heart stop. Jack hadn't been home last night. Worse still, Jed hadn't gone looking for her. There was a point to be made, but clearly it hadn't.
Snatching up one of the chairs, he slammed it down in the middle of the room, pointing at the seat. "Sit down," he said, his eyes on Jack. "Now."
Alice was equally angry, and where before she had been able to hold back her agitation with Jack's attitude and outright defiance of Jed's instructions, this time she was more than ready to speak up. She would let Jed get his piece out, but she would not remain silent for long.
Jack sat, if only because she didn't want to get into it about whether or not she'd sit like he told her but would rather let whatever was going to happen, happen. Besides, Jed couldn't make her stay sitting if she decided to get up. So she sat, crossing her arms over her chest and setting her jaw stubbornly.
Jed glared down at her. "You didn't hear a thing I said, did you? Or you just don't care?" he snapped.
For her part, Jack glared right back. "I heard you. I'm a spoiled little snot. I got it."
"And so you decided to come all alone? What, to prove you're a spoiled little snot?" he said, his hands tightening into fists.
Yeah, pretty much. What difference did it make if she did something Jed wouldn't like if he didn't like her anymore, anyways. "I didn't come alone. I said I wouldn't and I haven't." She emphasized the word just because Jed had been angry for thinking she was going into the city with Searle before she had done it. "I was in the back of the truck." Her voice was smug because it really had been a genius move.
It was the combination of Jack's smug look and attitude, along with Jed's sudden silence and rapidly rising flush, that broke Alice's silence. She was through playing the observer to the completely nonfunctional relationship that Jack and Jed had developed; Jack was completely out of control, and Jed had no way to stop her.
"This has gone on far enough, Jacklyn Baker," Alice said, her voice low and icy in contrast to the flaring anger in her eyes.
Jack stiffened. Nobody had used her full name in a very long time. "You're not allowed to call me that."
"Be quiet," Alice countered, a stronger edge on the command. "After what you've done, you have no right to speak at all. What you've done is extremely disrespectful. You have abused Jed's trust, and by acting in such a conniving way you have proven that you blatantly disregard any rules put in effect over you, nevermind your risky behavior. Not only do you put yourself at risk, but everyone else around you." She paused, her eyes flitting over to Jed's frame, before moving her eyes back onto Jack. Her voice remained quiet, giving testament to just how furious she truly was.
"Up until now, I haven't said anything out of respect for Jed, but I can't allow this to continue any more. If you cannot do as you're told by Jed, then you will have to answer to me, and I will not treat you like a child; I will treat you like an adult, which means punishment like an adult. We've set this community up on trust and respect. If you can't trust or respect the wishes of others with many, many more years of life experience than you, then you are not welcome here."
The tension in Jed's whole body was gone by the time Alice had finished, to the point that his mouth was hanging slightly open. It was like she had reached in, taken Jed's thoughts, and then put them into proper sentences. Except the part about kicking Jack out. That was further than he was willing to go, but he didn't dare even look at Jack, much less argue against Alice. Not when this might get through to the girl.
Jack suddenly felt very small and impossibly alone. What could she even say to that? Would Alice really kick her out? Probably. Would Jed let her? Where would she go? Back to being alone? It had to be a bluff, though Jed wasn't disagreeing. "I haven't done anything bad to anyone." Instead of smugness, this time she sounded close to tears. "I do your stupid inventory like I'm supposed to and I don't go around the city by myself anymore and I even promised not to let Searle sleep in my room even though that was stupid. But Jed's not my dad and you are not my mom."
"That does not mean," Alice said, completely indifferent to Jack's reaction, "that you are allowed to treat us the way you have been. We are adults, and you are a thirteen-year-old girl. Swine flu or not, that does not make you a grown-up. Would your parents have allowed you to treat adults the way you are treating us now? Would you have treated a policeman or a teacher the way you're treating Jed?"
The truth was no, she wouldn't have. But neither would her parent tell her she was nothing but a spoiled little brat and an awful person. "What do you even care? Stuff with me and Jed isn't even any of your business and you hate me anyways."
"Don't change the subject," Alice interrupted, her tone still even and cold. "The way you treat him is my business. The fact that you don't follow the rules given to you is my business. These are your choices: One, you continue to live with Jed and you do everything he tells you to do, whether you disagree with him or not and aside from inventory work, which is your job and I am your boss, you only have to answer to him; or two, you live in a suite on your own and do as you like within your suite, but follow the strict guidelines that I give you as to where you can and cannot go. Those are your choices. If you choose neither, then I will take you back to the Siena right now, help you pack, drive you back to your house, and leave you there. You will not be allowed to stay with us anymore. Do I make myself clear?"
Jed stared between them. This whole thing had been completely taken out of his hands, and frankly, he didn't mind. He clearly had no idea how to handle Jack, and Alice had been a mom, probably a good one at that. He didn't want Jack to leave them completely, but if it came to her staying with him or staying on her own, well, he wasn't sure which he'd prefer. When Jack looked at him, he met her with an even gaze, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Your choice, Jack."
Jack looked up at Jed, some part of her waiting for him to step in and defend her, to tell Alice that he wouldn't let her throw Jack out. But he didn't. All he did was stand there and agree to the whole thing. All Jack had done was adore him, to the point where she'd divided her life after her parents died into the time before Jed found her and the time after. She'd adored Jed while she left her own father to rot alone. What she wanted was her own parents back and to go home, but she didn't know how to explain that she didn't understand how to honor her parents and listen to people who had been strangers. She'd tried to substitute Jed for her own father and she just couldn't do it.
How stupid had she'd been? Jed wasn't her father and he never wanted to be. All Jack was to him was a kid on the street that he'd felt too guilty to leave behind, the same way he couldn't leave Rocky tied to that fence. It was obvious he didn't want her and just as clear that he didn't even like her anymore. All she was was a snotty kid he'd gotten landed with. He'd probably resented her all the times he comforted her, something he and Alice could laugh about later.
"You're off the hook," she told Jed, absolutely determined not to cry. "You don't have to keep your promise; you don't have to be stuck with me anymore." But what did she do now? Stay and have to deal with Alice, who she hated more than she'd ever hated anyone? Leaving meant being alone again - no more Zoé, who was made of sunshine; no more Kathleen with baby Ian; no more Walker and Holly. No more Searle. Jack was terrified of having to be alone again but no way was she going to let Alice make her leave. Jack would run away again before she let Alice kick her out. Running away was always an option.
"I want my own room."
Jed wanted to say something. He wanted to tell her it wasn't like that, that he didn't feel stuck with her, that he wasn't trying to get rid of her. That he just felt completely helpless. But if they were going to do this, it couldn't be halfway. Right? He looked to Alice, hoping it would be alright if he spoke.
Alice met his look, saw the conflict in his eyes, and debated giving him a moment to speak with her alone. The thought didn't stay for long; she worried that he would simply cave to Jack's haughty statement, apologize for everything, and basically render everything she'd said useless. He needed her there to hold him up, to back him up, and to do the things he couldn't. A small, brief, sympathetic look crossed her face and her hand twitched, the gesture a silent show of approval.
He licked his lips. "Jack, it ain't-- I don't feel--" He was going to say stuck, but that wasn't true. He hadn't really thought about it when he reached out to her, but more and more his life had centered completely around her. He didn't like it; it felt uncomfortable and alien. Maybe there wasn't anything he should say. Maybe it was better for them both if it just happened. His hands clenched in his pockets.
"It's your choice," he said at last. "Like you said, I can't tell you what to do."
Jack had to look away from him, staring down at the floor and gritting her teeth to keep from crying. She couldn't let the two of them know she was upset. Alice would probably accuse her of crying on purpose just to make Jed change his mind. Jed. She'd thought maybe he was going to tell her he didn't hate her but he didn't. Not that she could even believe him if he did. Jed had said they'd be a team but instead he'd started ignoring her; he'd promised to always want her but now he was ready to let Alice throw her out.
"Searle said he'd come pick me up after an hour. I'll go back and get my stuff and you won't have to deal with me anymore."
Jed's stomach gave a hard twist. "Don't--don't be like that," he said, the beginnings of a plea in his voice. He couldn't help himself. "You're still part--"
The small yet distinct sound of the door opening cut him off, and in three long strides he put himself between her and the door before even really seeing the figure who had come in.
Derek pushed open the door to the museum with one hand, his other supporting half a flat of Gatorade against his chest. Unlike the last time, his gun was tucked into his jeans instead of in his grip. He'd come across the Gatorade while searching for supplies and though he had kept half of the bottles for himself, the rest he'd saved for the museum group. They'd given him water and Derek always paid his debts. "Hey."
Alice recognized the man from Sunday almost immediately, and felt a little surprised at the sight of what he was carrying. In all honesty, she'd never expected to see the guy again. She came around Jed and Jack, going over to where he was in the entryway. "Need a hand with those?"
Derek shrugged awkwardly, only one shoulder rising. "They're for you, so you might as well just take them."
Glancing back at Jack, Jed knew the conversation was effectively over. Arguing in front of someone new wouldn't help anybody. It was only then that Jed realized he recognized the guy. "Hey, sure," he said, walking forward to take the Gatorade. "Thanks, man. Welcome back."
Derek was happy to hand over the flat and business concluded, would have left. Except when the big guy moved Derek saw the kid sitting behind him. For some reason, that surprised him more than a lot of the shit he'd seen in the past few months. Derek hadn't seen a child this entire time and had convinced himself there weren't any left. "Whoa," he said quietly, raising his eyebrows. "The kid's with you? You with them?" The girl looked kind of unhappy and didn't answer.
"She is," Alice replied, knowing at that point that Jack was in full pout mode. She would have to write up the guidelines and leave them in her new suite after they left from the meetup that afternoon. "Jack, why don't you grab Jed's walkie and see how much longer Searle'll be?"
"Nice name, Jack." He couldn't keep the comment to himself. "I'm Derek."
Jack barely managed to get out a "hi," before she went to get the radio. Besides the fact that she was doing what Alice told her, Jack ignored the other woman completely. Besides, the sooner Searle got here the sooner she could get out of here. Derek wondered what the hell she was so upset about.
Jed watched her go, a small part of him hoping she'd look back, meet his eye, something to let him know it was alright. He wasn't surprised when she didn't, though. Which left him, Alice, and the new guy. And right now, he didn't feel like going through the stranger song-and-dance.
"I gotta hit the can," he said, heading for the bathroom.
Alice frowned in response watching him go. It was just her and the new guy, and while his attitude seemed better today, he made her anxious being alone with him. She just hoped that her poker face was good enough to hide it. "We're havin' a bit of an off day," she said by way of explanation. "But thank you. For the Gatorade. You didn't have to."
Derek shrugged again. "You gave me water and I'd rather not owe anybody any favors." He paused for a moment, trying to decide if it was appropriate for him to say what he wanted to say before deciding just to fuck it. "What the hell are you two doing putting signs up and calling attention to yourselves if you've got kids to look after? Are you stupid or just crazy?"
Alice's frown changed from concern to agitation. "She snuck into the truck we drove down, so neither. And for the record, you need to really work on your attitude. What we did wasn't a favor: it's called bein' a good human being. You should try it some time."
Derek rolled his eyes. Taking care of your own supplies didn't make you a bad person, it just made you smart. And smart people had a better chance of not ending up dead.
"What, she's a kid on the street who climbed into your truck? Cause that sounded pretty familiar to me. You know what the signs do? They let everyone passing through this city know where you are. Here I am, come rob me. You really think there aren't people who wouldn't show up here in force to make you take them back to wherever your happy little family is holing up? Lady, the world don't work like that. Calling attention to yourselves is fine when it's just you, but you got a fucking kid. You're going to wind up dealing with a street gang at best or a group like the Sevens at worst and believe me, you better hope you don't bring the Sevens down on you. So yeah, are you stupid or just crazy?"
Alice hardly even flinched on the surface as the man in front of her raved on. Inside, she was boiling. She'd heard this speech before at the very beginning to some extent, with Cassidy when she first arrived and also with Leo. But it was the fact that he'd said 'rob' that got her hackles rising. She'd been robbed. And the way this man was acting sounded too much like he knew what he was doing and was scoping them out. With Jed off in the bathroom sulking, she knew she had to stand her ground in front of this man. Serenely she took a step back, then pulled her gun out from her holster, cocked it and locked it, the barrel easily pointed at his chest.
"Try and force me to do anything for you, asshole," she said, her voice icy calm. "Seriously. I dare you."
"I'm not interested in hurting you and I don't want to rob you." Derek's face was stony. He didn't make a move for his own gun because he didn't want this crazy senorita to keep overreacting. "But you should be careful. Someone without my fine disposition would kill you for pulling a gun on them." Alice tensed up even further at his words, which sounded all the more like he was trying to intimidate her. Her gun arm remained steadfast, eyes narrowing further.
"The point is though that yeah," he continued, "you could shoot me. But there are almost a dozen of the Sevens. How many do you think you could get when it's just you and your friend? By the time you get two of them, the other ten have killed the big guy. So there's ten of them, one of you and they're mean and worse, they're completely crazy. You think they couldn't force you to tell where you're living? They can, they would, and then they'd use you, kill you and go after your supplies only to find one defenseless little girl. What do you think happens then? You think that won't happen when the Sevens see those those signs? You're wrong. I know better. Now get your gun off me."
From the sound of it, and the way he kept discussing this group he referred to as the 'Sevens,' it was sounding more and more like he was a part of this group. The commanding tone and the details, along with the visual flashbacks to her assault and added to the already tense afternoon wound her up a little too tightly. Every word he said gave him more and more reason for her not to trust him.
"How about you get the fuck out of here instead?" Alice replied, her tone biting. "You think I'm some kind of idiot? You think I'd fall to pieces if a coupla crazy fucks cornered me? I'd die first before I said a goddamn thing. You don't know my people, and you sure as hell don't know me. Don't you tell me how to run my colony." Her lips pulled back in a mean smile. "So to answer your question? Yeah. I'm crazy. Don't you know it's a bad idea to piss off a crazy person?"
Derek wasn't about to argue with that. Bitch was crazy and he was just glad Redneck Joe wasn't around to complicate things. "In case you're wondering, I'm not a Seven and yes, they are real. They all got the number seven tattooed on the inside of their wrists." He extended his arms palms up to show he wasn't marked. "This is not my master plan and I haven't done shit to make you shoot me. But I do know what the hell I'm talking about."
For all she knew, the tattoos thing was backpedaling, though something about tattoos brought an itch to the back of her thoughts. And what if they need a spy? she asked herself, not daring to speak the words aloud and risk him trying to explain that away. She trusted him about as far as she could throw him. Someone to come in and get all the info, unmarked but with a great story? I don't buy it.
It occurred to Jed about five minutes into sitting on the toilet seat and staring at the floor that leaving Alice and Jack alone with someone they hardly knew wasn't exactly according to security protocol. Even though Alice always said she could take care of herself, and Jack was insisting she didn't need him, he knew he should pull himself together and get back out there. The pulling himself together part took a bit longer, but when he finally did leave the bathroom, he was perfectly alert and aware. Which is why he froze in the doorway. "Alice, what the hell is going on?" he said, looking between the gun-wielding woman and the not-all-that-threatening man.
Alice didn't bring her eyes away from the man in front of her, but spoke a little louder so that Jed knew she was addressing. "Nothing. Our friend Derek here was just leaving." Her voice lowered as she spoke to Derek again. "Weren't you?"
"Sure, why not? You got the Gatorade, we're even. You should really think about not pulling a gun on people who aren't doing anything to you there, Alice." Derek glanced over at Jed. "You should find your girlfriend some Midol. Good luck with the crazy."
"Don't you move," Jed snapped, pointing right at Derek. Jack was out there. If Derek had done something worth having a gun pulled on him, he wasn't leaving until Jack was back inside. "Alice, what he done?"
"Given me plenty of reason not to trust him or his saintly black advice," Alice clarified, eyes still boring into the man in front of her. "Especially with his well-explained hypothetical examples. Why are we still talking?"
"Jack's out there alone, and if you ain't trustin' him, then he's not goin' out until she's back," Jed said, snapping at her this time. Of course, Alice wasn't actually telling him anything. His teeth clenched in annoyance, but he started shifting around the two of them towards the front door.
"How about you deal with that." Alice replied through gritted teeth. If anything, Jack being there only solidified everything the jerk in front of her was saying.
Jack wasn't happy that Searle was on the way because nothing today could make her happy, but at least this meant she could finally get away from Alice. "Searle said he's on his way," she announced, walking back into the museum. Where Alice was pointing her gun at that Derek guy. "Oh." She froze, suddenly nervous and the nerves were enough to make here throat get tight and her eyes burn with all the tears she hadn't shed today.
Jed was near enough to the door that he was almost between Jack and Derek. "C'mon, Jack," he said, reaching out his hand but keeping an eye on the situation. "It's alright, we juss need to get out of the way."
She didn't take his hand, but she did step closer to Jed. Everything today was big and loud and confusing. What was happening right now was made worse but what had happened before and her lip trembled.
Derek kept his eyes on Alice since she had the gun. "I haven't done anything to hurt you and I'm not going to. You're overreacting."
Her patience was severely waning. This was turning out to be the day that would never end, and at that point she was ready to scream. Having to deal with Jed's mistake, an argumentative teenager, and a pushy, rude man calling her stupid and crazy who might very well be acting as a distraction while they were being surrounded was more than enough strain on her ability to be reasonable.
"Someone gonna tell me what she's overreactin' to?" Jed said.
With an angry growl, Alice pointed the gun above her head and fired. The sound of the gun going off only doubled in volume from the acoustics of the entryway.
"I am not going to ask again!" she all but shouted. "Get out!"
Jed didn't care anymore. Ears ringing, he grabbed Jack's arm and pulled her with him down the exhibits corridor, well out of the way. He had no idea what had set Alice off so bad, but he wasn't going to get in the way.
Jack screamed at the noise and as Jed dragged her away, the tears she'd been holding back finally spilled. Derek reached for his gun, pulling it out from where it was tucked into the back of his jeans. He didn't raise it though, just turned and walked out. What a crazy bitch.