The Greens of Jericho

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the television show Jericho or any part of it. The characters are not mine in any way. I am just borrowing them for a bit. I am not affiliated with CBS, the television show Jericho or the writers of Jericho.

Thanks to my husband for proofing the story before posting.

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Jake's Story, Part 1

The blizzard raged outside Heather's bedroom window.    She and Jake had just finished a feast of chocolate peanut butter smores and all felt right in Heather's world.   She was sitting between Jake's legs leaned back against his chest.     She had started to doze.     Jake was gently holding her.    He bent down and kissed her cheek.   Earlier in the evening, Jake had decided that Heather needed to know, had a right to know, about his past.    He gently shook her.

"Heather, there are some things I need to tell you.     Some things that I think you need to know about my life before I came back to Jericho.    Things no one else knows about...................."

Heather opened her eyes and stretched.    She laced her fingers with Jake's and looked up at him, "You don't have to, Jake."

"Yeah, I do," Jake said, "you have a right to know before we go any further.   Are you comfortable?   Warm enough?"

"I'm fine, Jake," Heather said.    She really wanted to hear this but now that Jake was going to tell her, she was nervous.

"Why don't we get on the bed.   It's more comfortable and this could take a while," Jake said.    He was stalling he knew.   He wanted Heather to know but he was afraid that her knowing would push her completely away.   He definitely didn't want that to happen.

They got settled on the bed with Jake sitting with his back against the headboard and Heather laying down with her head in his lap.   He absently stroked her hair and back as he searched for where to start.

"My dad was in the Army, stationed in France when I was born.   When I was about a year old we moved back here to Jericho.    I became a very unhappy big brother when I was three.    Dad was elected Mayor for the first time when I was seven.    Very shortly after that I started hearing "Behave.   Don't act like that.   You're the Mayor's oldest son.   You have to set an example for other kids".   You're a minister's daughter, I'm sure you and your sister heard pretty much the same thing."

Heather nodded silently.

"I spent a lot of time with my grandparents to get away from that.    Grandpa taught me all about horses and running a ranch and flying.    I was flying his plane before I was 13 years old.    The older I got the more I started to rebel against the whole "you must be a pillar of the community" thing.   Eric wallowed in it.   He was the perfect son.    Emily and I had always played together.   We went from friends to boyfriend girlfriend without really even realizing it.    I was really a punk," Jake laughed, "I was into drugs, lots of booze and being exactly what a "pillar of the community" wasn't.    I met Jonah because of Emily.   I don't blame her.   I could have turned away but his life was exactly what mine wasn't and I ran to it.   Emily and I were lovers by then.   Jonah knew it and used it.   Hell, the whole damn town knew.     Emily and I were bad for each other.   We would break up and get back together and break up again.   We just couldn't leave each other alone.    Finally, my grandpa had enough.    He packed me off to Embry Riddle in Arizona.   Do you know what Embry Riddle is?"

"It's a flying school.  Right?", Heather asked.    She took his hand and kissed the top of it.    She knew this was really hard for him.  

"Yeah.   It's the best one in the country.    I graduated with a degree in Aeronautical Science.     During the summers and vacations I was always right there with Emily and Jonah.   Emily didn't have anything to do with Jonah, even then.   She knew he was bad business.   She didn't like that I was involved with him.   I worked in his chop shop.   I transported stuff that I shouldn't have.   I wasn't good people, Heather.   It about killed my mom.   I feel so bad about what I put her through."

Heather sat up, leaned into him and gave him a soft kiss.    She took his face in her hands, "Jake this stuff doesn't matter.   You don't have to go thru all this.   I can tell how painful this is."

Jake smile softly at her, loving her even more, "Heather, this is stuff you need to know."   He hugged her and continued to hold her as he went on with his story.

"My last year of school was a rough one.    I really wanted to be home.    I didn't want to be in school.    I wanted to be done and be back here for the important things....drugs, alcohol.   Emily.    No matter what either of us did to the other we just couldn't stay apart....and we did some pretty bad things.  I went home for spring break and Emily and I had an ugly fight and broke up.   I thought that time was it...there would be no more.    I went back to school really down.    I had done very well in school so I got lots of offers from the recruiters.    I'm a very good pilot.   A man came to my dorm room one evening, which was strange.   All the other recruiters had set up appointments.    He worked for the government.    Heather, please, no matter what happens with us, you can't tell anyone what I am about to tell you, ever.   It's top secret.   I shouldn't be telling but I want you to know."

Heather looked at Jake and nodded, "Alright."

"This man was a very plain man.   He was dressed in regular clothes, no suit and tie.   You could pass by him anywhere and never really see him.    He worked for a section of our government that most people have no idea exists.    He told me all about how our government needed men like me.   Men who were good pilots.   People who could get in and out of sticky situations without getting caught.  He knew all about me....all my dealings with Jonah.    It sounded like a good job.    I joined right up.    I graduated Embry with honors.   I lied to my parents and grandpa about taking more classes.    I got all kinds of training over the next year...in medical, explosives, that kinda stuff.     I went deep deep undercover with the understanding that if I ever got caught it was my ass.    They didn't know me.   Period.   I was told to go back home and they would activate me as needed.   I got a hefty monthly check for my trouble.    Back to Jericho, Emily and Jonah.   Emily and I continued to be on and off, mostly off.    I met Jacob's mother during a break up.    He was born 10 weeks early and had to have heart surgery.  He had me wrapped around his little finger the minute I carried him up to the NICU.    Emily and I were pretty much done by then....I was always gone.   She thought it was because of another woman.   I guess it was in an indirect way.   Becca and I never were more than a few dates and sex if I want to really tell myself the truth.  I was spending a lot of time at the hospital with Jacob.    Much more than his mother did.    I should have told my mom then, I don't know why I didn't.    I was just being selfish.    Emily was dating Mitchell Cafferty by then.      I started having to go places with my job then too.     I have been all over the world doing things that we don't officially want to get involved in.     In the spring and summer of 2001, Jonah started really pushing Chris into the business.   Chris didn't want to disappoint his father so he went along.   It was a very hot and humid June night when Jonah decided Chris, Mitch and me were going to rob a bank.    Stolen cars and drugs weren't enough for him anymore.    I told him no.   I wasn't going to do it and I didn't.    Chris died that night.    I called Emily on my way out of town and told her everything about Jonah and Chris and everything we were into to.    I told her how sorry I was.     We were done then and there, Heather.   It was and is over.   There is no Emily and Jake.    Are you ready to run away yet?", Jake asked, turning Heather's face towards his and looking into her eyes.

Heather smiled at Jake, "It takes more than a wasted youth to push a Lisinski away, Jake."   She snuggled into his chest.

Jake let out a pent up breath and held her tightly, " Hang on, Sweetheart.  This ride gets bumpier.     Lot of turbulence ahead on this flight."

Heather tensed slightly, looked up at Jake and said, "Alright, I'm ready."

"Jacob and I headed to California.    My boss wasn't happy about it but he went with it.    He put us in an apartment and supplied me with a babysitter when I had to be out of the country.    I called my mom a few times a year but never told her where I was, what I was doing or that she was a grandmother.   She figured out that I was working for the government.   Blew my mind.    When Jake was 4, I couldn't stand it anymore.   I was away so much I was missing everything.       I told my boss I was going to have to opt out.    He refused.    He placed me in a job that would let me continue working undercover but would keep me in country more.   I went to work for Ravenwood."

Heather startled slightly and looked questioningly up at Jake.

"Yes, the same Ravenwood that was here a few weeks ago.    Different group than I was in but the same operation.     It worked well.    I mostly worked around San Diego and in southern California.    There were fewer trips out of the country.   I was home most nights in time for dinner.    I  provided high security for people and places of interest.    I flew a lot of planes with high ranking passengers the government isn't supposed to have contact with.  The Company provided me with a wonderful Nanny and a great house so I would stay with them.    I was very good at my job.    Alright, Babe, here is where the ride gets bumpy.   Are you ready?   Have you heard enough to make you run?"

Heather pulled away a looked up at him, "Jake, I am not going to run away.    You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to but I'm not scared of what you are saying.    I had imagined much worse, believe me."

"Alright, here we go.    Four or so years ago I did a job in Paris.    While I was there I met someone.     She was a lawyer who worked at the US Embassy in Paris.    Her name was Sara.    It was kinda like with you.   An instant click.    We spent a very nice week together before I had to leave.   I told her if she was ever in San Diego to call and I would show her around.     About a month after that, I was mowing the front lawn when Jacob came running out to tell me there was lady on the phone for me.   It was Sara. She was being relocated to the naval command in San Diego.  Sara moved in with Jacob and I a few months after she transferred to San Diego.    We never got married.  Sara didn't want to.  She wasn't the motherly type and didn't want to become an instant mom.   She was always sweet and loving to him but you could never mistake her for his mother.   Whenever I was away on a job she stayed at her own apartment.   She didn't want the responsibility of a child.   This past summer, I decided I wanted out of my contract.    I didn't like having to be gone so much.    I'm not the person I was when I went into that job.   It was going to cost lots of money to get out of my contract.    That's why I came back to Jericho---to get my trust fund so I could start living a normal life.   Sara and I had grown apart.   It  wasn't ugly...just distant.    There were 2 people in our bed but there was no couple.    Our relationship had been over for a long time but neither of us were willing to just walk away.  She was offered a transfer to Quantico and she took it.   The plan was to meet back in San Diego for one last weekend.    I put her on a shuttle bus to the airport the day before Jake and I left for Jericho.   Sara was in Washington DC apartment hunting when the bombs went off, Heather.   She's dead."

Heather sat up and pushed herself away from Jake, "You said that you didn't have a girlfriend, Jake.   That you didn't have time for a relationship."

Jake looked at Heather, "I know.    I don't have an excuse for telling you that other than it was and is painful to talk about Sara.    I was right about not having time for a relationship.   My having to be gone so much killed the relationship.   There's more when or if you want to hear it.   Or I can leave and go upstairs.    I don't want to hurt you, Heather."

"No, Jake.   If there is more I want to hear it," Heather said, hardening herself for what she was sure was going to be a major revelation.

Jake looked at Heather with raw pain on his face, "I don't know any way except to just say it.   Sara's last name was Lisinski.    I didn't put it together until the other night that she was probably your sister, Heather.   I didn't know."

Heather gasped and turned white.    The room started to whirl around.   "No, this isn't possible,"  Heather thought.  "Not possible."    

Heather fainted.

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Jake's Story, Part 2

Heather woke up to Jake patting her cheeks and rubbing her hands.

"Heather," Jake said, "Baby, wake up.  Come on.   Wake up.   We'll get thru this if you are willing.   I don't want to lose you.   Baby, you have to wake up."

Heather's eyes fluttered open.   She slowly sat up and the sobs started.   Her whole body heaved with them.   Jake held her.   Held her and stroked her head.  He talked low and calm like he would to Jacob when he was hurt.   He slowly rocked her while she cried.    Slowly Heather got herself under control.

"You aren't 100% sure are you?   It might not be my sister, right?", Heather said in a low voice.

"No, I am not positive," Jake said.   "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Heather could hear Jake go upstairs.   In a few minutes he came back in the bedroom carrying a laptop case.   He took out a laptop and a digital camera and started rummaging around in the case.

"This case has always gone everywhere with me.  It's where I keep important papers and stuff," Jake said, pulling a battered leather mini photo album out. "It's mostly pictures of Jacob but there is also one of my mom and two of Sara."  

Heather took the album and opened it.    There were pictures of Jacob from when he was blonde smiling baby to what looked like this past summer on the beach.   There was a picture of Gail that looked like it might have been taken before Jake left town.   Heather hesitated before turning the last page.   Her hands started shaking and she held her breath.   She started to turn the page and let it fall back.

"Jake, I can't do it.   I can't make myself turn the page.   We weren't close.   I mean we hadn't spoken in years.    I thought I had come to grips with the fact that she was more than likely dead," Heather said, looking at Jake with tears in her eyes, "It's more the thought of you and her.   She always got everything that was mine.   Everything.   It's not fair that she got you too."   Heather started to softly cry.

Jake took her in his arms, "She didn't have me.   I told you, it was over.   It had been over.    We were more habit than relationship.   We didn't hate each other.   We didn't really feel anything.   We were roommates who didn't want anything to happen to the other one.    The weekend we decided to officially call it quits was huge relief.   To both of us.    I couldn't tell her I loved her and she couldn't tell me she loved me.   We were friends and that was all.      If you knew she was dead and had come to grips with it then it shouldn't matter if you turn the page.     It will be a picture and that's all.   Right?", Jake said.

Heather took a deep breath and turned the page.    It was Sara.   There were two pictures.   There was one of Sara sitting on steps.   "It's probably the deck at Jake's house," Heather thought.   The other one was of Jake, Sara and Jacob sitting on the beach laughing at something in front of them.    Jake was right though.   Sara wasn't beside Jacob.   She wasn't touching him.   She was on the other side of Jake.    She didn't want to be a mother....yes, that was Sara.   No doubt whatsoever.    Jake was right.   It was just a picture.

"Ok, Jake, where do we go from here?", Heather asked.   "We have a start.   What do we do now?"

Jake took her in his arms and gave her a slow, soft kiss.   He breathed in the scent of her sweet smelling hair.    He laid down on the bed and pulled her down beside him.   She rested her head on his chest.    His heart was beating fast.    They enjoyed the love and security of the embrace and they went to sleep while the blizzard raged outside.

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